Originally Posted by
Mister Geezer
Thanks for the reminder about the expansion. I had overlooked that aspect!
A 772 could be 'shoe-horned' into 4A if needed but it would be too tight for a 773. To put the present problem into perspective, if you parked a 773 nose in on a normal stand at 90 degrees to the terminal and if the nose actually touched the terminal building itself, the tail of the aircraft would still overhang outside the marked area of the stand. Therefore the terminal expansion can't come soon enough if anything bigger than the present 788/332/763 mix, is to operate on a regular basis.
EK do of course go to some primitive places but they generally seek the best facilities that are available. Remote stands, steps and busses etc can all slow down the turnaround process.
4A was adapted to accept B77W as part of the airfield works last year, that is why there is now a dogleg on taxiway E. Stand 12 can also take B77W but has no jetbridge. Stands 15, 16 and 18 are also B77W compatible and once the terminal expansion is complete in a few months are expected to have jetbridges. That will give 5 international contact stands capable of handling aircraft of B77W or similar simultaneously. Plus there is still 2A for up to B788 size and 10A for up to A332. A massive improvement on years gone by.