Hi Shed,
All of that is handled by our operations at Luton. A very small team managing over 100+ fleet all with the same problem. In short they are overwhelmed! At Gatwick these days without fail the first the TCO knows about the slot is when I tell them, didn't used to be that way. Again this is where the undermanning that is being talked about is showing, it is not just the aircrew. Ryanair allready had built firebreaks into their programme, Easyjet did not, again, I don't do the planning, just the driving!
The subject of how long a turnaround should take has long been a subject of debate in EZY, in short crews don't guesstimate how long a turnaround will take, we are told from day 1 in Easyjet how long it WILL take under Easyjet rules, hence the "if your late we won't wait mentality". Crews are not allowed to question the reasonability of an allocated turnaround time and have slots applied for because we think a turnaround time is unachievable. Also we do not know about the return slot until arriving downroute when we get our clearance. Other people in the operation could find out about it and could apply common sense if they had the time or permission, but people who work on slot desks in Luton don't really have much experience of turning aircraft round!! They would also be aware only of the ETA of the aircraft on the ground, not problems with stand allocations, fuel, catering, wheelchair assisit, GPU and ASU starts, tech problems, filthy cabins, no shows at the gate with bags in the hold, and about 100 other things that can go wrong on a turnaround. What they do know is how long a "classic" EasyJet turnaround will take, therefore if the slot for the outbound gives more than that on the ground then there should not be a problem and they move on to the next crisis.
These are just the facts as I see them. I am attempting to keep my opinions to myself.
Last edited by PPRuNeUser0178; 1st Aug 2010 at 18:54.