Aviation studies
Summary Handler
Business
Aviation operations, second year, third semester.
Jason Krijgsman
14-5-2017
,Introduction:
This summary is meant for second year student attempting to finish the course Handler business
from the Aviation studies at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. The summary will give you all you need
to know from the lectures in a clear and thorough manner, keeping it short but not sacrificing on
possible quality. Slides from the handler business lectures will be explained so that you truly
understand what questions can be expected on the exam.
In addition to summarizing the lectures, this summary will also include any other important content
that was posted on DLWO but wasn’t part of a lecture or workshop. Some of these items did show up
on the final exam, so they are worth reviewing.
This way it’s possible to ensure that anyone who studies this summary will have a great chance of a
positive grade on their final exam.
Kind regards,
Jason.
,Samenvatting Handler Business:
Week 1: Ground Handling (Terminal vs. Planeside).
Ground handling can be split up into two parts; Terminal ground handling and Airside ground
handling. A various amount of processes take place throughout the day, including but not limited to:
Terminal: Airside
1. Passenger Handling 1. Ramp service
a. Check-in, ticketing, transfer- 2. Aircraft service
pax 3. On-board service
b. Advising, informing or 4. Cargo
directing pax 5. Utilization of Space
2. Baggage Handling a. Equipment, parking, etc.
a. Check-In, (re-)claim, lost bags 6. Ramp service
3. Security a. Marshaling aircraft
4. Government Controls b. Connecting GPU
a. Immigration, Customs, etc. c. Tow/pushback of aircraft
5. Cargo d. Unloading/loading bags
7. On-board service
a. Catering
b. Cleaning inside of aircraft
8. Cargo
9. Aircraft service
a. Maintenance/repair/safety
checks
b. Fueling
c. Deicing
d. Lavatories
e. Potable water
f. Cleaning outside of aircraft
(windows etc)
10. Utilization of space
a. Placement of vehicles during
service
b. Parking equipment not in use
An important thing to note is that employees working in the terminal have to work with passengers,
whereas the airside employees mostly have to deal with inanimate objects such as bags or
machinery. The difference here is that the airside employees can exert more control over their
actions, they decide what happens. This is not the case when dealing with passengers, work here
involves giving directions, information or simply advising. This affects how many employees are
scheduled per area: usually there are more employees needed in the terminal then there are
necessary for airside operations.
Apron:
It’s important to orchestrate ramp operations in such a way that ensures punctual departures. On
the following page you will find the basic apron operations and set up.
, Figuur 1 Basic apron operations
From top left to right: the operations are as follows:
- Galley service
- Bulk cargo loader
- Fueling
- Potable water truck
- Bulk cargo train
- Passenger bridge
- Air conditioning
- Vacuum lavatory service
- Cabin cleaning truck
I highly recommend drawing the figure above two or three times to make sure that you know all
services for the exam.
Baggage handling:
This lecture focuses on the difference between baggage handling at a hub airport and a spoke
airport. Both do not only differ in size most of the time (a hub airport tends to have bigger demand
then most spoke airports), but one key difference lies with the transfer passengers.
Both have the same sequence of processes with the hub airport having on more process in between,
marked in red:
1) Move bags from check-in area to departure gate
2) Move bags from one gate to another during transfers
3) Move bags from the arrival gate to the baggage claim area
Since spoke airport don’t have transfer passengers or facilities, they do not have to think about the
second step in the process.
Baggage handling systems and technology:
A baggage handling system should be able to:
- Detect jams
- Regulate volume (input points are controlled to avoid overloading system)
- Balance loads (evenly distribute bag volume between conveyor sub systems)
- Bag counting, bag tracking and bag redirection.