AIRPORT SPECIAL Tales From the Ramp
4 Catering , loading , and boarding are three tasks that can be performed simultaneously to speed up the turnaround and save time on the ground .
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prepare it for another great transoceanic service .
THE ART OF AIRCRAFT LOADING
Managing the arrival of a flight is the simplest part of a turnaround . The most entertaining and complex phase comes after , with the planning and loading of cargo and passengers onto the aircraft for its departure .
On regular passenger air services , the transportation of cargo plays a much more significant role than many may think . In many cases , airlines regularly schedule wide-body aircraft on short-haul routes not because of any high passenger demand between two cities , but for cargo transport .
Sometimes , you may step on a twin-aisle jet assigned to a two-to-three-hour flight and
find yourself to be one of the very few passengers on board . Yet , the cargo hold underneath your feet may be loaded at full capacity with parcels , export products , or even basic provisions for the population .
One of the greatest examples of this practice is the saturated airbridge connecting mainland Spain with the overseas territory of the Canary Islands . The tropical climate makes this small archipelago , with a population of over two million , one of the richest Spanish autonomous communities in terms of agriculture .
Every day , more than 10,000kg ( 22,000lb ) of tropical fruit and vegetables that cannot be grown on the mainland are carried to Madrid in the cargo holds of Air Europa Boeing 787 Dreamliners , and then distributed around the mainland and the rest of Europe .
In the opposite direction , the Canary Islands receive from the European continent all the necessary provisions , spare parts , and parcels needed to sustain the archipelago ’ s constantly growing population , given its remote location west of the Sahara Desert .
In fact , let ’ s forget passenger services for a moment , as we will be taking a look at my next flight , operated by a Boeing 747-400F fully dedicated to cargo .
The world of air freight transportation follows a set of rules that differs completely from that of typical passenger service . This is based on two premises : first of all , air freight is generally much less time-sensitive , and , unlike passengers , can easily accommodate delays ; and , second , dedicated freight flights tend to be reserved for the transportation of special
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