Originally Posted by
OzzyOzBorn
So, using your logic, why doesn't this same long-term 'no-divs' issue constantly crop up at all the other large UK airports too? Do they pay the wages for their handling agents? Do they subsidise them? And it's not confined to divs either. Requests for series of cargo flights notified well in advance hit the same predictable wall of 'no-can-do' at MAN.
Your solution amounts to shrug the shoulders, blame someone else, and continue to let the low standards drift on unaddressed indefinitely.
Identifying the problem does not absolve management from striving for a solution.
Maybe other airports have free stands available, maybe they have fewer peaks and troughs. I do not know, or care. I didn't offer a solution. I'm just explaining how it is at the coal face. The handling agents right now, today, do not have enough staff to offer the type of diversion availability you want. They can barely cope with the work they have. Aircraft are still being routinely towed off and on stands every night due to lack of contact gates. All of this takes resources. Bags are being offloaded late because the team that should be doing it are still on the previous arrival/departure. There is no slack. All this at a time when flights are less than 50% of their pandemic level. There is very little revenue to support the current operation. Many aircraft are going out less than half full.
It's a mess.