GateFlow^®

Airport gate congestion can lead to delayed flights, resulting in lost time and revenue for both airlines and airports. With ARINC's GateFlow^®, the airport manager can assign aircraft to the most logical gates and stands, anticipate and prevent aircraft congestion, and maximize the number of accommodated flights and on-time departures.

Suitable for any size airport, GateFlow is an intelligent control system that is also an essential tool for historical reference, future planning, and daily scheduling. Working on-site with the airport manager, ARINC experts create a customized model that includes a definition of the terminal and a rule-base for all gate and stand allocations. These rules define the best fit between aircraft types, gates, and stands by using a point scoring system. The model also includes carrier preferences for specific gates, stands, and service providers, and covers what-if scenarios, such as seasonal peaks and holidays.

Using GateFlow is easy. Managers simply input raw flight schedule data or a preliminary gate plan. The system can also access data from other integrated airport terminal sources. Using this input, GateFlow systematically scans the predefined rules, assigns flights to gates and stands, and generates a new, optimized plan. The manager can accept the plan as is or modify it for selected gates or groups of gates.

GateFlow retains a complete record of each day's gate and stand activity, together with an audit trail of all changes. Managers can use GateFlow reports to analyze causes of delays and bottlenecks and plan ahead.