AMO

Ground Handling

handling defines the servicing of an aircraft while it is on the ground and (usually) parked at a terminal gate of an airport. It also includes the services in the landside area of an airport.

Ground Handling

It is vital in the continuous operations of an aircraft. Without the different services, the flight will not push through. It prepares the aircraft for departure and must be done in such a way that it ensures the flight will be safe and efficient.

Ground Handling Services Aircraft Marshalling

it refers to the visual communication between the marshaller and pilot in order to lead the aircraft into correct parking position in an airport or aerodrome.

Towing with pushback tractors

This is to help the aircraft to push-back from the ramp area and to move the aircraft forward while the engine is off.

Lavatory drainage

The purpose of this service is to drain or remove the “waste” of the passengers and crew from the previous flight.

Luggage Handling

This service is to load and unload the checked luggage of the passengers in the cargo section of the aircraft.

Air Cargo Handling

This service is to load and unload the cargos of the aircraft. These cargos might be from the passengers, from the cargo companies, or from different individuals that they only sent the cargo itself.

Aircraft Refueling

This service is to refuel aircraft prior to the flight.

Ground power unit (GPU)

is an equipment used in ground operations in which can be connected to the electrical system of an aircraft while on the ground. The purpose of this is to power the aircraft such as the lightings and air conditioning system while on ground without using any fuel of the aircraft.

Jet bridge and Passenger stairs

is an enclosed, elevated passageway which extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane. The jet bridge allows passengers to board and disembark an aircraft without the requirement to go outside or to be exposed to the elements. If the jet bridge is not available, the passenger stairs take over.

Jet bridge and Passenger stairs

The purpose of passenger stairs in the aircraft is to have a passage to the passengers going inside and outside of the aircraft from the airport grounds.

De-icing and Anti-icing

This is very common service in the countries that has a winter season. This is a removal of any frozen or semi frozen moisture from critical external surfaces of an aircraft on the ground prior to flight and protection to those surfaces of the aircraft from the effects of such contaminant to form any icing prior to the flight.

De-icing

is for the removal of frozen or semi frozen moisture from the aircraft

Anti-icing

is a prevention from the formation of frozen or semi frozen moisture to the aircraft.

Passenger Service

These are the representatives of the airline to assist the passenger in the airport. They handle administrative procedures for passengers before and after a flight, such as reserving tickets, releasing boarding passes, accepting luggage, and, checking of boarding passes. Those personnel called “Passenger Service Agent”.

Catering Services

These service loads the inflight meals into the aircraft. It includes the unloading of unused food and drink from the aircraft, and the loading of fresh food and drink for passengers and crew.

Line Maintenance

These are the aircraft maintenance activities carried out whilst the aircraft remains in the operating environment generally refers to minor, pre and post check, unscheduled maintenance activities. This conducted during the aircraft is on ramp area or apron area to keep the aircraft is in shape while it is in operation

Baggage Handling

is an essential element of airport operations, but as with other utility functions, it is often remarked on only when it goes wrong. When the things go wrong with the handling of the baggage, a big implication might happen such as few passengers not receiving their bags when they arrive at their destination to the widespread disruption of airport operations, including flight cancellations, along with all that such events entail for airlines and passengers.

Crew baggage

It is identified with a crew label showing all flight details.

Cabin baggage of passengers

It is checked under the scanner for hazardous, liquid, or any other kind of unpermitted articles. On clearance, it is allowed to be taken into the cabin. It must be small in size and weighing up to 6kg.

Check-in baggage of passengers

It is checked-in to be kept into the aircraft’s baggage storage area.

Baggage Handling Process

It all starts with a bag drop. We have 3 different types of bag drop desk: Linear, Island, and Flow-through.

Linear

all the bag-drop desk in a linear type are side-by-side with only 1 conveyor belt moving at the back of it. Example of the airport using this type is NAIA terminal 4.

Island

an_________desk has back-to-back counters with the conveyor belt in the middle of it as you can see from the figure below. Example airports that is using this type are Hong Kong International Airport and Changi Airport

Flow-through

a _________ desk doesn’t use a traditional long conveyor belt for the checked baggage. In this instance, they use a lift to send the baggage in the sorting area and the passengers will walkthrough between the desks after the bag-drop.

• The processing of passengers and baggage

• Provision for the requirement of a change of movement type

• Facilitating a change of mode

Functions of the Passenger Terminal

The processing of passengers and baggage.

This includes ticketing, check-in and baggage drop, baggage retrieval, governmental checks, and security arrangements.

Provision for the requirement of a change of movement type.

Facilities are necessarily designed to accept departing passengers, who have random arrival patterns from various modes of transportation and from various points within the airport’s catchment area at varying times, and aggregate them into planeloads.

Facilitating a change of mode.

This basic function of the terminal requires the adequate design and smooth be operated in a manner operation of terminal facilities of two mode types. On the airside, the aircraft must be accommodated, and the interface must that relates to the requirements of the air vehicle. Equally important is the need to accommodate the passenger requirements for the landside mode, which is used to access the airport.

• Direct passenger services

• Airline-related passenger services

• Governmental activities

• Non-passenger-related airport authority functions

• Airline functions

5 Principal Components of Terminal Activities

Direct Passenger Services

terminal operations that are provided for the convenience of air travellers and are not directly related to the operations of the airlines are normally designated as direct passenger services. Ex: Flight and general airport information, Baggage trolleys, Directional signs, Rest rooms, etc.

Airline-related passenger services

These are within the airport passenger terminal; many operations are usually handled entirely by airlines or their handling agents such as Airline information services, Reservations and ticket purchases, Check-in, baggage check-in, handling of bag drop and storage, Loading and unloading of baggage at the aircraft, etc.

Governmental activities

most airports handling passenger movements of any reasonable scale will be required to provide office and other working space in the vicinity of the passenger terminal for the civil aviation authority and the ATC authority, if this is constituted separately. At major airports where international passengers are handled, it is also possible that up to four governmental controls must be accommodated such as customs, immigration, quarantine, etc.

Non-passenger-related airport authority functions

It is often convenient at smaller airports to locate within the terminal building for ease of intercommunication all the airport authority’s non-passenger-related functions. These are the Management, Purchasing, Finance, Engineering, Legal, Personnel, Public relations, Aeronautical services.

Airline functions

These are the airlines that indirectly serves the passengers. They help the airport to continually operate for the passengers. Example of this are the lounge designated only for the passengers with the flight who runs the lounge. (Ex: Mabuhay Lounge, Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, Pacific Club, etc.

Airport Security

Thanks to Annex 17 of International Civil Aviation Organization that contracting states work hard for it to reach the state-of-the-art security procedures. Let us familiarize more from the procedures implemented in an airport to sustain the continuous operations without intercepting it due to malicious acts.

Centralize

is screening before entry into a sterile departures area serving multiple departure gates generally requires fewer security staff and less but more sophisticated equipment. Its main drawback is that unscreened individuals may be able to access the sterile area from the apron or through unattended staff routes. It screens the passengers immediately they enter the airport.

Decentralized

is carried out directly before the boarding to the aircraft; after screening, the passengers are held in a sterile lounge. Some operators believe that gate screening achieves maximum security. However, gate search requires more staff and more screening equipment, tends to cause more boarding delays, and suffers the disadvantage that the challenge to any armed person and group is performed in the vicinity of the aircraft.

Baggage Search and Screening

To conform to the checked-baggage search requirements meant some initial difficulties for the airlines because the baggage-handling systems often had inadequate space or capability to accommodate the x-raying of bags after they had been accepted into the baggage-loading system at check-in. At many airports, passengers were required to check in and then carry their bags to an x-ray machine installed in the vicinity of the check-in area, where they were subject to x-ray and dispatched into the baggage-loading system.

Freight and Cargo Search and Screening

The screening of freight and cargo also has been routine since the introduction of hold baggage screening soon after the Air India bombing in 1985. To screen hold baggage without also screening the freight that is normally carried on passenger flights would be pointless. The x-ray screening equipment must accommodate very large packages in unit loading devices (ULDs). Such machines have colour displays of container contents and are capable of detecting contraband such as concealed weapons, explosives, narcotics, and currency.

Access Control Within and Throughout Airport Buildings

To sustain the security from the person who enters the airport, identification cards is a must in an airport to ensure that the person who enters that vicinity is permitted. It is usually known as access pass; it should have a photograph and details in a tamper-proof badge that should be issued by the unit responsible for airport security. Badges should be displayed at all times when the person is in the airport vicinity. The airport issues those passes to the airport employees or to the person who works inside the airport. Usually, the passes could expire daily, monthly, and yearly. When the passes expire, you should return it to the pass control office of an airport for the renewal if necessary. Visitors may avail the visitor’s pass 1 week prior from the preferred date of the visitation to the airport.

Perimeter Control for Operational Areas

It is essential in a properly secured airport that the secured areas are positively separated from those which are unsecured. The two basic elements of perimeter control are fencing and controlled-access gates.

Fencing

The airside must have an adequate security fence that serves the multiple functions of clearly defining the protected area, providing a deterrent to an intruder, delaying and possibly inhibiting unlawful entry, and providing controlled access points at gates.

Access Gates

Controlled access gates must be provided to the movement area and other parts of the airside. These should be kept to a minimum, and where access is other than by key or automatic control, the gates must be manned, illuminated, and provided with alarms. The access gates are normally equipped with barrier systems with retractable devices that will disable and severely damage a vehicle attempting to force entry.

• Planned

• Regular

• Emergency

• Hig Value

• Dangerous

• Restricted Articles

• Livestock

Cargo Types

Planned

For this type of commodity, the air mode has been selected as the most appropriate after analysis of distribution costs. It is either cheaper to move by air freight, or the added cost is negligible when weighed against the improved security and reliability. Speed of delivery is not of vital importance to this type of cargo.

Regular

Commodities in this category have a very limited commercial life, and delivery must be rapid and reliable. Newspapers and flowers are examples of regular commodities, as are fashion items under some conditions.

Emergency

Speed is vital and lives may depend on rapid delivery of emergency cargo such as serums and blood plasma.

High Value

Very high value cargo such as gemstones and bullion require special security precautions in terms of staffing and facilities.

Dangerous.

It is the transportation of the dangerous goods. It is important that personnel are adequately trained in the handling of dangerous shipments. combustible liquids, compressed gases, etiologic agents, explosives, flammable liquids and solids, magnetized materials, noxious and irritating substances, organic peroxides, oxidizing materials, poisons, and polymerizable and radioactive materials.

Restricted articles

In most countries, arms and explosives can be imported only under the severest restrictions, which include very strict security conditions.

Livestock.

Where_____ are transported, arrangements must be made for animals to receive the necessary food and water and to be kept in a suitable environment. In a large terminal with considerable livestock movements, such as London Heathrow, the care of animals occupies a number of full-time staff.

Freight

is moved from the shipper to the consignee, usually through the agency of a freight forwarder, by one or more airlines using premises and infrastructure provided to some degree by the airports through which it passes.

Unit Load Devices (ULDs)

• is either an aircraft pallet and pallet net combination, or an aircraft container.

• are removable aircraft parts subject to strict civil aviation authorities’ requirements from design, testing, production, and operations, to repair and maintenance. An airworthy ULD must be structurally capable of restraining the loads and providing adequate protection to the aircraft systems and structure during flight.

ULD

container usually has a slant in one of its corners it is because to maximize the space of the cargo section of an aircraft. As you can see in this figure, this is the cargo section of an A320.

Handling within the Terminal

Unlike passengers, who merely require information and directions to flow through all but the largest terminals, freight is passive and must be physically moved from landside to airside and vice versa. The system used to achieve this physical movement will depend on the degree of mechanization to be used to offset personnel costs. The terminal types are threefold, and any particular terminal may well be made up of a combination of types.

• Upper-deck freight container loader

• Lower deck freight container loader

• Nose loader

• Cargo container transporter

Different freight container loader