How long do you set turnaround time?

[Ironbostik [IT]]

Just out of curiosity, how do you guys set the duration of turnaround of your flights (S, L and XL)
I've the impression that my S flights are too short and pax are left behind because not enough time to check in and board so I am thinking to build more gates (actually 3 S + 2 L) and schedule my actual flights with longer duration.

Would be interesting though to know community turnarounds as well, because maybe they're same as mine, so I have to work on Airport accessibility instead

Thanks

[chick10000]

I schedule 2 flights per daypart only per gate. A lot schedule 3. I have changed turnwround times but really have noticed a big change. if it is a big flight then it would help with boatding to add some time, but there are always PAX lagging behind and boarding last minute

[Ironbostik [IT]]

Originally posted by chick10000:

I schedule 2 flights per daypart only per gate. A lot schedule 3. I have changed turnwround times but really have noticed a big change. if it is a big flight then it would help with boatding to add some time, but there are always PAX lagging behind and boarding last minute

Wow...I got 4 flights for the S gate and 3 flights for the L gate...

[chick10000]

Originally posted by Ironbostik IT:

Originally posted by chick10000:

I schedule 2 flights per daypart only per gate. A lot schedule 3. I have changed turnwround times but really have noticed a big change. if it is a big flight then it would help with boatding to add some time, but there are always PAX lagging behind and boarding last minute

Wow...I got 4 flights for the S gate and 3 flights for the L gate...

less people boarding smaller gates so i can see having more flights on them, i just find it cause delays and PAX get stuck all over with longer lines

[JTMC]

S: 1:40 h, L: 2:20 - 2:30 h, XL: 3 - 4 h
30 mins between flights to the same gate (from departure to arrival). I usually have 1 gate desk for S, 2 for L and 4 for XL.
I also set all of the flights for the same sized ports to leave 20-30 mins appart to even the flow of passengers through the terminal (so there won't be 4 XL flights departing at the same time, with 2000+ pax trying to get through security).

[Moria15]

Duration of turnaround is one of those questions that crops up regularly and has many influencing factors. As your airport expands, those times change meaning that the larger the airport, the longer your turnaround timeas need to be.

Lets look at some examples... take a small gate that takes planes with an average of 60 - 100 pax per flight. Now.. in a starter airport that has no facilities such as washrooms, food, cafes etc.. the time is purely down to how long it takes a passenger to get from drop-off to the gate and board.... bearing in mind that some passengers will always arrive at the scheduled arrival time of the plane.. this means your turnaround has to be at LEAST as long the time taken to go from drop-off to check-in to security and then transit to the gate... if the gate is close to the security, a small gate MIGHT manage a 60 - 90 minute turnaround depending on how busy your security and checkin are... however.. lets now add some features such a coffee stall, sushi bar, seating and washrooms.... people tend to leave these areas if there are no queues for these facilities, about 45 - 50 minutes prior to departure, so again assuming they are not in a queue for the washroom etc, they have a transit time of 45 minutes to get to the gate. Again in a small airport, this is easy.. however, as the airport increases in size, you have to remember that there is a chance that they have chosen a washroom or seat that is the opposite end of the airport (if that one has no queues and the one nearest the gate does have queues) and could be easily 45 minutes transit away from the gate.

As you can see, as the airport increases in size and complexity, the times needed for boarding can and DO get longer. In addition, any queues that form at check-in, security, washrooms, food, shopping etc will also delay the passenger, because if they are in a queue at that 45 minute mark, they will likely stay in that queue until they have finished that task.

Another issue is waste bins.. passengers seem to have an ability to determine to use a waste bin that is not particularly close to their departure gate if there are not enough Janitors and so the transit time for finding a waste bin can be excessive sometimes.

Additionally, there is the issue of the no of agent desks at the gate, as some passengers wont move from their comfy seat until the gate queue is down to a reasonable level even if they are at a seat that is as far away as possible from the gate.

Finally, how much space is there to move around... a crowded terminal will encourage passenger "bounce" where passengers are colliding with other passengers and getting delayed.. this can turn a 45 minute transit across the airport to 60 minutes or more just on crowds. In addition, if your departing passengers are colliding with passengers arriving from flights, they can actually seem to move backwards for a while.

As you can see, this is where learning layouts and experience come into play to getting a well functioning and reliable operation.

For me.. I will have 2 check in desks for small gates, 4 for large gates and 6 for XL gates... in addition, as a minimum, I will have turnarounds of 180 minutes for small gate flights with 30 minutes between flights, 200 - 240 minutes for Large gate flights with 45 minutes between flights and 300 - 330 minutes betawwen XL gate flights with 60 minutes between flights.

Assuming a good layout of the airport with no transit issues internally, this will normally give me a 100% operating bonus on even large airports, as long as transit times internal to the airport are less than 45 - 60 minutes from the furthest seat or utility to the gate itself :)

Regards

Graham

[Ironbostik [IT]]

Originally posted by Moria15:

Duration of turnaround is one of those questions...
...
the gate itself :)

Regards

Graham

Honestly, I fell from the chair when I opened the page of the discussion and your "book" popped up...but then I read it completely and I can only thank you for the detailed answer.

Probably now I am at the point of transition from a small regional Aiport to an International Airport so as you say...facilities are increasing, so are the pax flows...and turnaround have to be reshuffled

To avoid the bumping of pax I made a dedicate lane leading to baggage pickup, and I can say that definetly it improved the accessibility for departing pax.

Thanks

[qcs2017]

Small airport: S 2:00, L 2:30, XL 3:00, with 1, 2, 3 gate agent desks. Separate S gate for those tiny aircrafts with 1:30 schedule.

Once the aircraft gets bigger, and the PAX wander around too much, add 30 minutes each. I didn't have a HUGE airport yet, but I would expect to add another 30 minutes.

[SeikakuOtosan]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1836366589

so this is more or less how i schedule my gates. S-L-XL 178 flights in 30 gates. i may not get the perfect day bonus .... far to much can go wrong. and the airport is flawed in a few places that i didnt know were going to be a problem until everything was built. but meh... when im making over a million a day i really dont worry about a few thousand bonus. some days only a hand full of people will miss their flights. (like 5-7) on bad days i might get 10 canceled and 10 delayed flights with over 1000 people missing flights. its all a dice roll as i have info screens EVERYWHERE and a MASSIVE PA system. 2 gate kiosks for small 4 for large and 6 for XL. ticketing is 40 desks strong with 34 self check in machines. and 6 security zones with 72 security lanes all together. and 18 escalators in 6 different areas to move pax from ground floor. (ticketing-security) to 2nd level (departures and arrivals) with only 8 going down, i figure once they are in.. i dont need to worry quite as much for them to leave.