Hi dear pilots and stuff!


I just wanted to ask if the 20 mins stop between flights is not TOO short? I mean the aircraft needs to deboard, then refueling, cleaning, cattering and then boarding. Also a short delay from the previous flight is not so big problem if you have 30 mins on ground but it is problem if you have only 20 mins.
Some other questions in this regard:
1. How much time prior to departure starts the boarding in InterCity Airways (I flew a lot of AUA in real life (as pax) and they starts boarding before 30 min to departure and 45 min for long haul flights)
2. As I try to simulate the VA operations as real as possible I like to know when to tank the aircraft and for how many flights? I mean the Intercity schedule does not have any jorneys (or I did not find any) like from A to B then to C and then back to A. Intercity has only A to B and B to A flights, so my question is do I need to tank the fuel for A-B and B-A at ones when I at A or there is other procedure?

Hi Dimitri, some very good questions, I'll do my best to answer:

EasyJet turnaround 180 seat A320 in 30 minutes so shorter is normal for many turboprops (half the seats, less fuel, no requirements for stairs, baggage lifts or conveyors and normally less checked baggage too).
* A JS41 can be turned around within 15 minutes.
* Q400 takes 20 minutes to turnaround,we use both front and rear doors to speed exit/entry. 20 min turnarounds are scheduled in reality by Spicejet, normally using only one door, but they struggle!
* The A320 has 30+ minutes scheduled for turnaround, if there's a lot of hold baggage they can take a little longer.
* London City Airport (EGLC/LCY) does not permit turnarounds longer than 30 minutes, apart from exceptional circumstances.

Some turnarounds (generally 3rd or 4th sector) are longer to allow for delays to absorbed. In other cases, the scheduled duration is slightly longer than required, so we can still arrive on-time when we're actually running late 

Passengers arrive at the aircraft door 10 minutes before departure time (STD) for all turboprop flights (the handling agent is responsible for making announcements and organising buses for this to happen but check-in opens at STD-90/120 and closes at STD-30). Doors close at STD-3. This pattern is used by a real life JS41 and S2000 operator. The A320s have more passengers to load so we aim to start boarding STD-20 before departure.

There are a few A-B-C journeys on our schedules but they are uncommon. Fuel tankering is uncommon but the captain may choose to, to reduce turnaround time at the next airfield (normally shortest sectors only because on many turboprop flights it restricts payload). On the J41 it is permissible to refuel with passengers aboard, to ensure a 15 minute turnaround is achievable.

Quote from: Chris Liu on Nov 30, 2015 10:03
Passengers arrive at the aircraft door 10 minutes before departure time (STD) for all turboprop flights (the handling agent is responsible for making announcements and organising buses for this to happen but check-in opens at STD-90/120 and closes at STD-30). Doors close at STD-3. This pattern is used by a real life JS41 and S2000 operator.

Cris, thx for you reply. You wrote about check-in times and what about boarding time? The boarding time starts STD-30 (I speak about boarding time on the ticket not the real loading aircraft with paxes?


By the way question: when the baggage are loaded into the aircraft? I'm wondering why GSX loads baggage together with passengers, because I mean the bags are loaded before the passengers...

I've no idea what boarding time is written on our tickets, I have people taking care of that stuff and I don't normally need a ticket myself 

Ideally baggage should be loaded before the passengers, but sometimes it is loaded at the same or even afterwards! Bags don't always complete security screening before boarding begins on short turnarounds. Sometimes you get passengers that check-in bags but are then late at the gate, so all bags can be held to prevent the need to offload bags of passengers who don't make it in time to catch the flight.

The Jetstream 41 has no overhead lockers, so most hand luggage is placed in a large trolley near the door, and those bags are then placed in the hold or belly pods. It's reclaimed from a similar trolley when you exit.

Here's a video of bags being loaded after boarding because they arrived late at the aircraft. And here's another where they are setting up the baggage loading conveyor as passengers board at the rear door.

At easyJet, we have 30 min turnarounds, As soon as we pull on stand the clock starts ticking, we then have 8 mins from last pax off to first pax on to get the aircraft ready for departure. This includes cleaning, re dressing the seat pockets and carrying out security checks. The bags are loaded and unloaded at the same time, so quite often you can hear the ground staff banging around in the hold. We also re fuel at the same time as re fueling is permitted with pax onboard. Only requirement is that exits are kept clear incase of an emergency on the ground. Sometimes when we have lower loads, they are still refueling or putting the bags on when the passengers are all seated and ready to go!