Since 2011, I have been involved in many apron projects at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as the lead design engineer. Sometimes only for the engineering of the passenger boarding bridges, but in almost all the projects for the complete re-design of the apron. Most projects are initiated by replacements of the passenger boarding bridges, which is an excellent opportunity to modify the complete apron solution to the modern needs of the airport.
As a result, many new boarding bridges have been installed, many gates have been upgraded to make parking of bigger aircraft possible and make better use of the available space at the contact gates.
Creating a new solution at the existing gates of Schiphol airport is a complex puzzle. Not only need the aircraft fit in the space, but also all connected services, taxiing and push-back manoeuvres, ground handling and fuelling need to take place in a safe manner. To solve this puzzle, a good understanding of the operations at the apron is a must for the designer.
In some cases, the apron upgrades resulted in needed modifications of the taxiways as well, all in line with the EASA regulation, of course.
Schiphol projects
List of projects:
- Gates B31, B35 – Bridge replacement
- Gate C12 – New bridge solution
- Gates D2-D10 – Upgrade gates and double bridge solutions
- Gates D3, D5, D43 – Double bridge solutions
- Gates D47-D57 – New gate layouts and double bridge solutions
- Gates D-pier inner bay – New gate layouts
- Gates E2-E17 – New gate layouts and double bridge solutions
- Gate E24 – Upgrade gate to A380
- Gates F-pier – New gate layouts and double bridge solutions
- Gates G2-G8 – Upgrade gates and double bridge solutions
- D-buffer – New fuel hydrants at remote stands
- Taxiway A12 – Modifications to facilitate the A380
- Taxiway A17 – Modifications to upgrade gates G4, G6 and G8
- Gates E18-E22 – Study future gate layout
- Gate E18 – Study for mixed mode use
- E-buffer – Study for mixed mode use
- Y-platform – Study for mixed mode use
