The stand used by the A380 is a Multi-Apron Ramp System (MARS) stand, so it supports a wide variety of aircraft types including other long-haul aircraft – both Virgin’s 747 and Air Transat’s A330 aircraft have used it – and can offer separate business and economy boarding and disembarking. Many of our international flights board and disembark in this area and the A380 project presented us with the perfect opportunity to expand and future-proof the infrastructure to allow us to better utilise our resources and improve operational performance. Why is the A380 service limited to a short amount of time? How did you justify this in terms of cost?Īs well as to accommodate the A380 aircraft, the £8 million investment was part of a wider improvement programme in the West Pier gate area. Glasgow has a fantastic ‘one-campus’ culture and our partners across the airport were very supportive of the project and their help instrumental when it came to tackling the challenges encountered. These were sourced from multiple organisations and all required detailed installation, commissioning and training. This allowed the electrical lighting changes and new extended runway links to be installed without delay.ĭuring this project we took the opportunity to replace and refresh all of the stand equipment including lighting, fixed electrical ground power and passenger boarding bridges. The airside construction work was phased to ensure there was no impact to operations, with much of it carried out during a scheduled night closure window during winter and thankfully the weather was kind to us. This fixed end date of the first flight was tough to meet from the start, however, the Capital Projects team worked night and day with the builders to ensure we met it. From the date Emirates confirmed the introduction of the A380, we had a short window to appoint the construction partners and build the facilities. It was also critical to ensure the stand and gate area were back in service for our busy summer schedule. Given this was the first time the A380 had been brought into regular operation on a Scottish route, we knew passengers would book on to the inaugural service to be part of Scottish aviation history. The most significant challenge was ensuring construction was complete for the date of the first flight. This improved our operating capability as previously we could only handle two aircrafts through this one gate area simultaneously. To do this, we had to re-examine and adapt our terminal and airside infrastructure with support from our airline partners to develop a gate environment that could handle the arrivals and departure requirements of one aircraft with over 600 passengers, or three aircraft with an even greater number of people combined going through the same gate space. We wanted to ensure the infrastructure – in particular the gate where the aircraft would operate – could support multiple carriers and aircraft types. The A380 project started five years ago, not long after the 2014 anniversary visit. What were the challenges in terms of adapting the airside equipment? Now, the A380 has been integrated into our live operations daily, which was a big step change, however the aircraft is settling in well. Operations were essentially suspended due to the restrictions that were put in place to allow the aircraft to land and depart that day. Modifications were also made to the runway hold points for low-visibility operations and a traffic light signal system was installed across the airfield road network to ensure the safe passage of the A380 between stand and runway.Īlthough we welcomed the A380 in 2014 to mark Emirates’ 10-year anniversary, the airport wasn’t Code F-certified at that time. Given the sheer size and scale that comes with operating the world’s largest commercial passenger aircraft, we had to make significant changes to the airfield including widening our runway entry and exit points. Modifications were also made to the adjacent aircraft stands either side of the one serving the A380 to support the aircraft’s huge wingspan. Given the A380 can carry over 600 people, we had to ensure we continued to meet the turnaround performance requirements while factoring in the challenges associated with boarding and disembarking an even greater number of passengers. The installation of the airbridge was critical to the success of the project. We invested more than £8 million upgrading our infrastructure ahead of the A380’s arrival, including the installation of Scotland’s only triple airbridge. How did the airport’s infrastructure have to change to be able to accommodate the A380? In terms of high-quality customer experience, the A380’s arrival was the final piece of the jigsaw.
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