'Tail In' Aircraft Parking
Mar 7, 2019, 1:52 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: EDI, and often LHR, DOH and PVG, OPO or AMS - or just about anywhere else...
Programs: BA Silver (soft-drop now I moved all longhauls away), KLM Gold, Emirates Gold, and others
Posts: 83
'Tail In' Aircraft Parking
This is not strictly BA, but I refer to the knowledge in this forum being of a higher calibre than that of any other forums on here, so I hope the answer prevails before the post is removed.
Amsterdam Schippol, H Terminal. Until now, as far as I know, aircraft have always parked the standard “nose in” orientation.
Todays Easyjet’s have all parked “tail in”, using tugs to reverse park them before deplaning. It’s a conscious thing, clearly being trialled.
Can anyone offer any logic on this!? I’ve been trying to see the benefit, but there is plenty of space etc - so are Easyjet trying to find a faster way to get aircraft departing?
Mar 7, 2019, 5:00 pm
#4
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BA Silver, VS Silver
Posts: 781
Regulars will know that usual configuration is nose perpendicular to terminal except for stands 4-6 for larger aircraft with a 45 degree to terminal (nose in) configuration. On a very gusty May day a few years ago I was greeted with a WW plane parked 45 degrees nose out and a correspondingly long walk across the tarmac in high winds to the forward door, worse once boarding slowed midway as is usual. Ground staff explained that the reason was that the aircraft was parked with nose into the wind in case the wind caught the wings and blew it over! They then wished me luck with the blustery ascent.
Mar 7, 2019, 6:00 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: EDI, and often LHR, DOH and PVG, OPO or AMS - or just about anywhere else...
Programs: BA Silver (soft-drop now I moved all longhauls away), KLM Gold, Emirates Gold, and others
Posts: 83
Indeed - it’s Windy in Amsterdam so that’s a very plausible reason...
Mar 8, 2019, 2:35 am
#7
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Whether tail-in or nose-in the nose is perpendicular in either case
Mar 8, 2019, 2:43 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,481
I'd be very surprised if those aircraft were pulling off the stand under their own power given the parked equipment and the pier's glass facade [which may have been designed for jetwash, but probably isn't something Schiphol want to test]. Thus the need for tugs to both arrive and depart is highly unlikely to be an attempt at increasing efficiency...
Mar 8, 2019, 7:45 am
#10
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Executive Club - Silver (OWS)
Posts: 768
Mar 9, 2019, 4:53 pm
#11
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
Programs: BA
Posts: 8,476
Mar 9, 2019, 4:57 pm
#12
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
If passengers are being deplaned through stairs in the tail cone, it could make sense to park tail in so that customers' walk on the tarmac is minimized.