Originally Posted by
appfly
Why can't the ventilation in the planes run on electricity when the plane is "connected" to the gate?
I'm not an aircraft mechanic, but I believe electricity doesn't come into it. The plane ventilation systems use pressurized bleed air from the engines or APU; you can't really run it on electricity.
However, you
can hook up external air conditioning feeds to gate-side planes. They look like fat yellow hoses. I have no idea how common they are in our part of the world, though.