Originally Posted by
Skipness One Foxtrot
Interesting, is this a new thing? Zulu Orange and Blue using colours rather than the more intuitive November and Sierra to denote North and South? Any other UK airfield have something similar? Stansted has East, Central and West lines in the aprons.
I had some involvement with this during my time on MAN-TP. Using cardinal points at MAN is problematic because the airfield doesn't sit conveniently on an East-West axis like Heathrow and Gatwick and has a generally more random taxiway layout than Stansted. Blue & Orange sub-centrelines were already established at airports like CDG, MUC, FRA and a few others, so it was decided to follow some existing practice. Furthermore they were adopted by EASA as a recognsed 'means of compliance' during a revision of aerodrome design standards in 2016 or 2017, I forget exactly when. It works well. The same revision also allowed closer clearances between aircraft wingtips and obstacles along taxiway routes.