January 2018 – December 2018
Scope
At Schiphol Airport, a new location to facilitate the A380 aircraft is initiated at gate E24. The taxiing route of this giant commercial aircraft to reach the stand needs to be investigated as part of the project. Future changes at nearby gates E18 to E22 need to be taken into consideration as well.
Project
While working for Deerns, I have made the new design for the situation at the apron of this stand, including all the simulations needed to make sure that the A380 aircraft can manoeuvre onto the apron and all EASA-regulations are met.
As a starting point, a quick scan has been made for the future E18 to E22 gates, to determine the position of the lead-in lines and the bridge solutions at these gates. As a result, I could make sure the new E24 gate modifications won’t interfere with these future plans and I was able to give the airport already a rough view on what the gate layouts would look like in the future.
Also, new taxiing routes for the A380 have been investigated and a solution has been designed, resulting in modifications of several taxiway centrelines and its centre lights. A solution has been designed in the new corners of the modified centrelines to limit the number of centre lights to be replaced.
At E24, the paved area needs to be widened, new fuel hydrants need to be installed, the docking system and ground power units need to be moved and a smart solution is needed for the passenger boarding bridges. Simulations of the A380 over the corner in the adjacent taxiway show the boundaries of the new E24 apron.
Like many gates at Schiphol, the new E24 gate needs to facilitate small aircraft as well as big aircraft (Code C up to Code F) at the same lead-in line. Initially the A380 will be connected to two Passenger Boarding Bridges (at doors M1/M2 and U1), but in the future, a 3-bridge solution shall be possible. This is a big challenge for the boarding bridge solution.
As a result, the rotundas of the boarding bridges are not at the same level. The most forward bridge at the gate is placed higher to limit the slopes in the bridge when connecting to the upper deck of the A380 as well as to the second doors of Wide-body aircraft. The first bridge is placed lower to be able to connect to low aircraft like the B737 and A320, without big slopes in the bridge. A solution with three fuel hydrants makes sure all aircraft, Narrow-body and Wide-body, may be fuelled comfortably and in a safe manner by all the different dispensers in operation at Schiphol airport.
To link the movable boarding bridges to the building, a fixed link is designed which is wide enough to facilitate the passenger flows of three boarding bridges. The connection will be made in an angle with the building. This requires the design to be very precise. Based on field measurements of the building, the exact coordinates of the mounting brackets for the fixed link are determined.