Stand planning

[JuJuMonkey]

Hi everyone,


How do airports decide which planes are parked where? and what happens if they plan to put an aircraft on a certain stand but the previous one gets delayed and it's still on the stand? Is it a case that airlines can pay more for using better stands? and then what happens if another airport is closed and then they take diverts and then they run out of room?


Just wondered how it all worked xx

[Tim91]

At most airports there is dedicated 'stand planning' teams within airfield operations departments, this is certainly the case at LHR and LGW. At LHR, the system CDM plays a part in predicting and assisting airfield operations in allocating a stand as they can 'see' on a virtual map which aircraft is parked where and an accurate time +/- 5 mins of when any aircraft is due to be pushed back and therefore when the stand will be clear. These teams will take into account a number of factors such as how long any one aircraft will be occupying a stand, what effect that will have on the rest of capacity across terminal/airport and what size of aircraft the stand is being allocated to.

At airports such as LGW, the stand is allocated by airside operations around 10-15 minutes before landing when the aircraft gets established on approach to the airport. Airfield operations can predict and create plans 'stand plans' based upon each aircraft/flights STD and then this is updated with the EOBT to provide a more accurate prediction for when the stand will be clear.

All stands are communicated to ATC who then tell the stand number to the aircraft directly upon landing and vacating the runway. If a stand has been allocated and it is taken, then sometimes an aircraft will simply wait in a quiet taxiway for the stand to become clear, or failing this a new stand will be allocated to prevent taxiway congestion and to keep ATC happy!

Not too sure on whether airlines can pay more for 'better' stands, they can make preferences which can be adhered to, for example closest stand to the dep lounge, or best stand in terms of seating capacity etc. Airlines like Ryanair at LGW for example do NOT use airbridges/jetty which keeps their operating costs lower, although they still use standard stands like all the other airlines at LGW.

When there are diverts, airfield/airside ops or ATC allocate a stand known as a 'remote' stand, with no jetbridge, not close to terminal or at least not directly linked and pax are bussed to/from aircraft to the terminal. This is the case when the airline does not usually operate to that specific airport. In the case of BA or Virgin for example, at LHR/LGW vice versa then a normal terminal stand would probably be allocated as the airline has a ground handling contract for its existing based operations anyway.

Hope this helps! :)

[JuJuMonkey]

Thank you for your reply :) it's all very interesting xx