Slot times

[Flyboy-F33]

If a departure is scheduled for (say) 14.30 ie, that is the time on the passengers ticket and on the departure board. Is the expected take off time also 14.30? or do the airlines 'build in' an imaginary delay to allow for late pax etc. What therefore would the actual take off time for a 14.30 departure?

GG

[simfly]

The "departure time" (on your ticket!) is the time at which the aircraft is scheduled to depart the terminal (ie. push back), the actual "airbourne/slot time" will vary on how big/small the airport is.

[BOAC]

EDIT - whoops! Crossed with simfly :p

14:30 is the scheduled time for the aircraft to move from the 'gate'. Most airlines have a cut-off boarding time to enable pax to be found and stuck on, but there is always the odd bozo who gets 'lost' in the bar or goes home to feed the cat, and it is then a dispatch decision whether to wait or off-load said bozo's bags and go without.

Take-off time depends on airport and other variables (like how many engines to start, how far to taxy etc). LGW for a 737 is around 10 mins for westerly, and 15 for easterly departures. Edinburgh around 5 mins for westerly and 10 for easterly

[Spitoon]

The overriding factor these days is often the ATC slot time - this is a window of a few minutes during which, if the aircraft gets airborne then, there will be no bunching of traffic along the route that overloads the controllers.

Slot times over most of Europe are allocated centrally (from Brussels) and take account of the capacity of airways and airports. If an aircraft is ready to go early it is sometimes (probably often) possible for an earlier slot to be negotiated.