I have always wondered whether passengers notice the organized chaos that characterizes aircraft at the gate, getting ready for its next trip. Whether it is a 737 operated by a low-cost carrier getting turned around in as little as 20 minutes or a 747 heading to the other side of the world and readied for departure in less than 90 minutes, the picture is much the same: a lot of machines, a lot of people, a lot of activities which magically all terminate all of a sudden as if on command and the aircraft is ready to go!
This is the turnaround process, one of the most critical phases of a flight. Yes, strange as it may sound, an aircraft on the ground being serviced for its next flight faces many organizational and technical hurdles, the handling of which introduces a degree of unpredictability seldom if ever encountered in actual flight.
Mess up the turnaround process and an immediate delay ensues which can throw the whole schedule of that particular airframe out of whack for the rest of the day. The nightmare of all airlines.
Of course what we see around the aircraft is only part of the show. Inside the terminal scores or hundreds of passengers will be streaming towards their gate and some will stop to shop, some to eat, others just to gape… in any case, their on time arrival at the gate is anything but certain. Another potential source of departure delay…
Clearly, if the turnaround process could be fine-tuned and the sources of delay reduced or eliminated, turnaround delays, a significant source of total delays, could be reduced for the benefit of all stakeholders.
The TITAN project, launched a year ago as part of the EU 7th Framework Program is aiming to do just that. TITAN stands for Turnaround Integration in Trajectory and Network.
Eleven companies, led by Ineco of Spain, are working on defining the improvements necessary to make the turnaround as predictable as the rest of an airline flight. TITAN’s outcome will be complementary to, but also an important input into, SESAR.
An important element of the TITAN activities so far has been the Stakeholder Workshop held in March at which a close look at the turnaround process was taken in the company of airline, airport and handling agent representatives. You can find the report of this Workshop here.
Since then high level user requirements and a performance framework have been developed and an operational concept defined. These form the basis of work still to be undertaken. It is too early to talk about results, let it suffice to say that the project participants are gaining a unique insight into the peculiarities of the turnaround process with a growing understanding of how the issues can best be approached and what solutions are the most promising to improve the situation.
If you want to read more about the TITAN project, click here.
