february2021 - 16

COVER STORY

Photo courtesy of TCR

" Recurring delays over time will influence
airlines' route viability decisions and passengers' willingness to patronize the airport in
question again, particularly when transferring
between flights. "
As airport designs vary, so too does the
ability to handle flights at a given airport.
" Running ground handling, just like running an airline company, is a complex task.
It's known across the world that one station
is never like another one. If you're successful
at one station as Brand X for ground handling,
it doesn't automatically mean that you'll be
so successful in another station because the
configuration will definitely change, " Gamba
says. " It's a known limitation to the seamless
application operation of ground handling and
to the seamless operation of airlines simply
because you have runways here that are crossing each other, here they are parallel, here you
have two, here you have four and you only
have one central terminal.
" All of that impacts, quite heavily, the way
ground handling can be done, " Gamba continues. " That will impact, quite heavily, the
way you can operate. "
So, while airports may have been designed
without significant input from stakeholders
decades ago, the process has begun to change.
" You have a much more concerted way
of doing things precisely because, amongst
other things, it is recognized that ground
handling is a major aspect of the operation
of an airport, and then would have to have a
say if you want this airport to be operationally successful, " Gamba says, adding that there
are no uniform approaches as, in addition to
third-party ground handlers, some airlines
self-handle and in other cases airports own
ground service companies.
" You have quite different situations, and
those different situations would obviously
have an impact on the say ground handlers
would have on the making and design of an
airport, " he says.

16 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

The ability for ground service providers to
get involved in airport design reverts back to
these relationships between ground handlers
and airports.
Gamba explains that typically, a license is
granted by the airport to a ground handler. In
the European Union, as per directive 96/67/
EC, at least two ground handlers must be
licensed to operate, given the size the airport.
These licenses generally run for a period of
seven years. After that period, there are no
guarantees a specific ground handler will still
be in operation at that airport.
" Seven years is a relative short period of
time. So, you could imagine that the airport
would only be interested to a certain point
in what the ground handler thinks of how it
should expand or how it should be redesigned
in the future, simply because of the nature of
their relationship, " he says. " There is only so
much a ground handler can do with respect to
having influence on the design of an airport. "
However, challenges that one ground handler faces would conceivably be a hurdle for
another, so the input may still prove valuable
when considering airport designs.
Removing any constraints that exist for
ground ops is ultimately vital as the airport
seeks to attract airlines. If sufficient turnaround times cannot be achieved, airlines
may look for other airports to operate out of.
" The turnaround time, which I believe
is absolutely essential now to new, modern
airports was not something that was taken
into consideration, " Gamba says of previous
airport designs.
With airlines, airports and ground service
providers relying on one another to be successful, various platforms have been established to involve all stakeholders at a given
airport.
One example, Gamba explains, is a Common Decision Platform where representatives
from different areas of the airport, including
air traffic control and even the public, can collaborate on solutions to overcome
difficulties and other conditions
hindering efficiency.
" This is a rather bottom-up
type of approach where you're
really looking at a typical scenario that constitutes a barrier or
problem or something to try and
overcome, " Gamba says.

FEBRUARY 2021

" It's proven to be an extremely useful, if
not absolutely necessary, instrument for any
modern airport to run its operations, " he continues, noting omitting it means missing out
on feedback from the airport's own users.
Through the use of Common Decision
Platforms, participants can look closely at
questions raised and determine the essential
answers.
" All these necessary answers are related to
the local situation of the airport. What is true
at this airport will not be true in another airport, " says Gamba. " That's why it's so important to have input. "

The Right Equipment for the
Job
Being involved in the planning process for an
airport's creation or redesign is beneficial to
the ground handling community.
However, development plans can be
impacted by financial, geographical or political factors. Often, ground service providers
must work within the confines of the job, as is.
To do so efficiently, proper GSE management is crucial.
According to Sophia Hanafi, who handles
business development at Mercury GSE, the
management of GSE typically includes topdown considerations from the management
team as well as bottom-up input from ramp
agents.
" For example, management will often provide reasoning to allocate a specific number
of assets to a station, yet ramp managers may
have a different thought on where assets
should be allocated. This is mainly because
ramp agents are first-handedly seeing and
experiencing traffic on the tarmac, " she says.
" Because of this variance in opinion, collabo-

february2021

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