Not only that, the two operators take twice as long to do the job as one at any other airport.

Yeah, but that's obviously because they are being much more careful and much safer which will be more cost effective in the long run because they won't be crashing aircraft.

Well, in theory they won't...

Moved three planes at work today, in total it took nearly two hours and minimum four people, 1 tug driver, 1 headset man, 1 brake rider and a spot man. That is just stand to stand, hangar or some other moves need wing/tail spotters, elf and go safely seem to have it over bean counters.

Tangent: For pilotless ramp positioning, do you guys need to start the APU (737/A320)? What are the guidelines for moving one with APU u/s?

We (the ground handler) cannot move a plane without starting the APU, if it is inop we have to call the engineers and they come out and work their magic, to be honest i think that as long as there is enough pressure in the accumulator (3000psi) they can monitor that and watch for the tug disappearing into the distance, but the insurers will not let us do that. I believe airport ops insist that an aircraft that has no power (APU inop) must have an airfield ranger escort tho what they are going to do if things go the shape of a pear is unknown