Yes, I originally started a new MANCHESTER - 8 thread. However, I deleted it when I noticed that the software interface between my IMAC and the PPRuNe website had converted my capital letters to lower case.
Ah good Mr Shed - glad I wasn't imagining it - hadn't been to the pub by then!
As you can see, it has done the same to my capital letters too, but then my standards are lower, so I pressed on!
Thanks Viscount for the link to the MAG website. Seems like the car park on the stands is at least longish term as the AD quotes "until further notice" and the change will eventually be incorporated in the Aerodrome Manual. Looks like it should be possible to reverse this though at reasonably short notice if needed.
The question is - if the stands are currently not needed for aircraft because there isn't demand and pax numbers are way down, where are all the cars coming from?
And I note that T2 pier served stands are being rearranged so that there are less MARS stands, although I guess there are a fair number of wide bodies on there now all through the day, so it practice it probably doen't make much difference to actual capacity.
Less stands is bad news though for all the potential diversions this winter
Skippy
Designed before the Government knee jerked and decided arriving international passengers were much to dangerous to come into contact with departing international passengers. Why is that?
The issue of segregation of inbound /outbound in the UK has been going on for 30 years now. The story I heard about LGW North was that the powers that be in BAA decided to plough on with their new development in the 1980s with mixing of passengers despite the UK DOT or whatever it was called at the time suggesting that this was not acceptable. DOT's argument was (and probably still is) that inbound passengers may not have been screened at their departure airport to the same high UK standards and there is therefore a possibility of some collusion between inbound and outbound pax transferring weapons or whatever. The end result should be that everyone in the restricted zone of the terminal is screened to UK standards, not the standard of some other countries.
Anyway, the end result of this BAA defiance at LGW North was they were forced to segregate at the gate by means of a perimeter corridor for inbounds with consequent delays to boarding or unloading as no boarding could take place when inbound pax were in the corridor and vv - rather like the south side of MAN's Pier C now.
Existing developments in the UK at the time were exempt and pressure from the airports not to spend money on this kept it that way until 9/11 although monitoring of the mixing areas was increased. After 9/11 MAN was obliged to segregate its old piers in a very short space of time as there was not enough space in the piers for segregated gate lounges with security and this resulted in the mish mash of routes you enjoy today!
I presume from your comments that there are still mixing areas at LHR - not been through there for so long now thank goodness so I don't know. I presume that security screening is done in a cordoned off gate lounge immediately before boarding in these areas and once through the screening there is no contact with inbound pax?
Incidentally, doesn't AMS do gate lounge security immediately before boarding after which there is no mixing? And at GVA when I was last there a few months ago the flows were certainly segregated on the piers.
Might it have been a better capital investment plan to refit the terminals rather than pour the concrete for that second runway?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.....In the 1990s slots at prime times at MAN were in short supply and a couple of airlines didn't start as they couldn't get anywhere near the times they wanted despite single runway capacity being declared at 50+ /hour in some hours. A runway was what was needed at the time and in those days a runway had longer lead times due to the planning process. And nobody else had built one for 20+years at the time (before that was EDI?) so it was a step in the dark for everyone.
The increased scheduling limits were used in peak hours as soon as the runway opened. Since then the world has changed dramatically but who could have predicted it then? The next stage of work after the runway opened was to move onto the terminals and expand them rather than refurbish. It didn't happen for obvious reasons and only recently did they finally start to get to grips with them.
With the lower throughput figures, the good news is that it is of course easier to refurb and alter an operational terminal. The bad news is that revenues are inevitablty down so how can you afford it? Oh to be an airport manager these days
Suzeman
EDIT: Title now sorted!