AERO Specialties

There is every indication that the popularity of air travel will continue to increase in the years to come. A practical demonstration of that fact is already evidenced by the increased congestion at the world’s major airports. An increase in the traffic through airports will also be attended by a busier, more demanding, more stressful, and even more dangerous airside. Thankfully, the increases in traffic and the challenges that brings to the airside are being complemented by an increase in the technological innovation that’s shaping how those challenges will be addressed. Changes already being made at airports globally are an indication of what the airside of the future may look like. The good news is that it appears to be one in which ground crews, their equipment, and the aircraft are safer, more efficiently managed, and more effectively overseen. GSE Goes Electric For the great majority of the time airports have been in business, the average aircraft pushback ...

If the implementation, organization, logistics, finances, and general future of ground support equipment (GSE) pooling isn’t the most controversial topic in the airside/aviation support industry, it’s without a doubt in the top three. At airports all over the planet the question of pooling is being debated by enthusiastic supporters and equally fervent detractors, and in a number of them, it’s already being implemented. With pooling in practice on a large scale still in its infancy, however, universal adoption is far from a certainty. As is the case with any major shift in an industry’s operational parameters, there don’t seem to be a whole lot of easy answers and even the most vocal proponents of GSE pooling acknowledge that implementation will almost certainly be a bit turbulent. Whether or not it proves worth it remains to be seen. Potential Drawbacks of Pooling For the unfamiliar, at the moment, different ground crews have contracts with specific airlines and ...

Every year, the airlines lose billions of dollars to accidents and other damage incidents. Beyond the financial risk and loss, accidents and damage incidents are responsible for a number of collateral and peripheral consequences. Those consequences range from passenger inconvenience and loss of business to, far worse, injury or death. Unfortunately, as airsides at airports and aerodromes are generally busy, borderline chaotic places, with ground support equipment (GSE) like aircraft pushback tractors and baggage carts bustling past massive airliners, accidents and damage incidents can have a lot of sources. That also leaves airport management, contractors, and third parties vulnerable to liability costs. The good news is: most of those can be mitigated or avoided altogether.   Ramp Damage: Towing and Collision Incidents According to the research, the total cost of ramp damage alone to the airlines is around $10 billion every year. The average cost of each a...

To some degree, asking whether or not the future of ground support equipment (GSE) will be electric is moot. Much of it already is. Commuters are now used to electric vehicles (EV) ferrying people and cargo around inside airports, and they’re becoming an increasingly common feature of the airside workspace. There are certainly a number of obvious advantages to GSE going electric, but the transition is not without challenges as well, particularly in the short-term. The question for the aviation industry is whether or not the transition to electric aircraft tugs and lav carts is worth the necessary modifications. Or, is the electrification of aviation an inevitability regardless of preference? The Trend As mentioned, there’s no question which direction the wind is blowing. Commercial and public transport across business sectors across the world are transitioning to EVs in earnest. And it’s happening fairly aggressively in many cases. Ten years ago, diesel vehicles...

Several years ago, airport heads of ground operations were brought together from different parts of the world to discuss the most common problems they face with their ground operations. Their answers had some overlap but were surprisingly different. One of the chief takeaways, however, was that the issues they cited that involved ground crew virtually always involved the crew not having sufficient training. That’s not an uncommon or unexpected finding. Even when identifying the problems they encountered that didn’t specifically name a lack of training, the root of that issue could pretty reliably be attributed to it. Poorly maintained, old and obsolete, and otherwise inadequate ground support equipment (GSE) is likely the second most commonly mentioned. Thankfully, both of these issues can be resolved for safer, more efficient, more financially stable ground operations and a happier ground support crew. Common Ground Operation Issues If there is one specific issu...

The work environment for an airport’s ground crew is a particularly high-risk one. In fact, if one were to list major workplace risk factors, it might harder to find the ones that don’t apply to an airport ground crew than the ones that do. Ground crew work often requires high-speed and high-stress tasks, such as hurrying to get aircraft ready for flight or seen to after a flight, while other aircraft are waiting for service. It also involves the use of heavy equipment and vehicles like aircraft tugs , as well as working on far larger and heavier equipment and vehicles, like aircraft. The ground crew are often carrying heavy luggage and other equipment and transporting and using any number of chemicals, including fuels, lavatory fluids, deicing fluid, and more. Not to mention the additional stress or that for many of the crew, not doing their job or doing it incorrectly can put the lives of a lot of other people in danger. That level of risk is, of course, responsi...

Any member of an airside ground crew, which certainly includes the management, will tell you that the work can be pretty high-stress. They are operating under two mandates which are not only often in competition, they can seem fairly contradictory. Those mandates are: “Do the job as quickly as possible!” And, “Be thorough, complete checklists, double-check, make no mistakes, be careful, and be safe.” Although both of those priorities make sense from the perspective of the airlines and those airside serving at the pleasure of those airlines, delays on the ground can cost millions—literally. Not even just big delays. According to an industry report, a large airline loses as much as $35 million (USD) annually for every additional five minutes of ground time. According to the same report, it’s also pointed out that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that the aviation industry would save $4 billion annually by taking preventative safety meas...