55 comes to planning an aircraft schedule, turnaround times are always a key factor that should be taken into thorough consideration.
•
Cost – every second spent at an aerodrome as expensive large as Singapore or London Heathrow can cost the airline a lot of money. Parking and other fees will apply. Faster turnaround times means less time on the ground and lower fees. The airlines attempt to cover this by including levies in the ticket prices, however, delays are not completely covered by these levies. Therefore, profit margins will only be breached if the aircrafts time in the air is maximized.
•
Curfews – Missing a curfew can cost an airline hundreds of thousands of dollars. A perfect example of this would be the Emirates curfew breach at Sydney’s KingsfordSmith Airport. The respective aircraft had defied repeated warnings by air traffic controllers not to fly after 11pm resulting heavy fines and also a thorough investigation (Saulwick 2012).
4.2.3 Safety Targeted Awareness Report & Minimum Safe TurnAround Times Rushing the turnaround of aircraft may seem like a way of saving money, however, it is very unsafe according to the Safety Targeted Awareness Report (STAR) created by the Air Safety work group of the European Regions Airline Association, which states: “Flight schedules that include: Inadequate time for a turnaround(s) can be considered as a hazard. As most schedules rely on a standard turnaround time, many local factors are not always considered, and the chances are high that some turnaround times will be inadequate.” (ERA Air Safety Work Group 2005) The STAR also states that the hazards can be reduced by basing assumptions on known conditions such as aircraft type or location. They have split them into avoidable and variable. Please see the extract below for more information: Unavoidable factors include the following (this list is not fully comprehensive):