Advanced Airport Operations Control and Recovery Training Course – Madrid, 5–16 Apr 2027

Airport Operations Control and Recovery is a 2-week training course for duty managers, airside and terminal operations leads and operations control centre staff, who leave with an airport operations performance and recovery plan for their airport. Passenger numbers are climbing faster than runways, stands and terminals can expand, so every disrupted hour now spreads across airlines, handlers and passengers within minutes. The course is delivered by Jupiter Prime Training.

Why Airport Operations Control and Recovery Matter Now

Three forces press on the airport operations control centre. Traffic growth fills stands, gates and check-in halls close to their declared capacity, leaving little slack when a flight runs late. Airlines, ground handlers, border agencies and retailers each run their own systems, so a shared picture of the day depends on how well the control room joins them up. Weather events, technical outages and security alerts are more frequent and more visible on social media. An airport that controls its day well protects on-time performance, slot integrity and passenger trust; one that does not suffers stand gridlock, missed connections and costly recovery. The course rests on airport collaborative decision-making (A-CDM) principles and the safety management system (SMS) approach.

Who Gains Most from Airport Operations Control and Recovery

• Duty leads who take command of the airport during each shift
• Airside leads responsible for stands, apron movement and turnaround supervision
• Terminal leads who manage queues, gates, baggage reclaim and passenger flow
• Control centre coordinators who monitor milestones and issue operational messages
• Planning leads who allocate stands, gates and resources for the season

An airport gains most when its duty, airside, terminal and planning leads attend together and agree one recovery playbook for disrupted days.

Airport Operations Control and Recovery Capabilities

Participants practise reading the state of the airport from milestone data and turning it into stand, gate and resource decisions before delays compound.

• Assess turnaround milestones and target off-block times to spot delay risk early — airline station managers and ground handlers
• Design stand and gate allocation rules for peak and disrupted periods — airside and terminal leads
• Calculate declared capacity for runways, stands and terminal processors — slot and planning committees
• Apply an irregular operations escalation ladder from minor delay to airport-wide disruption — duty manager and senior leadership
• Communicate a single operational picture to airlines, handlers and border agencies — airport community partners
• Build on-time performance and passenger flow indicators — executive committee and airline customers

Key Airport Operations Control and Recovery Terms

• Airport operations control centre (AOCC) — the room where airport, airline and handler representatives monitor and steer the day's operation.
• Airport collaborative decision-making (A-CDM) — a method of sharing turnaround milestones between partners so departures are planned on accurate times.
• Target off-block time (TOBT) — the time an aircraft operator or handler expects the aircraft to be ready to leave the stand.
• Declared capacity — the number of movements or passengers an airport commits to handle per hour.
• Irregular operations (IROPS) — disrupted conditions, such as storms or outages, that force changes to the planned schedule.
• Turnaround — the sequence of ground activities between an aircraft's arrival on stand and its next departure.

Airport Operations Control and Recovery Day by Day

Day 1: The Airport as an Operating System

• Airport Stakeholder Map — Airlines, Handlers, Agencies and Concessionaires
• Traffic Growth and Peak Profiles — Where Capacity Runs Out First
• Airport Operating Model Options — Centralised Versus Distributed Control
• Service Level Agreements With Partners — Accountability for Each Milestone
• Operational Performance Scorecard — What the Executive Committee Watches

Day 2: The Operations Control Centre

• AOCC Roles and Seating Plans — Who Decides at Each Desk
• Airport Operational Database Feeds — One Source of Flight Truth
• Shift Handover Protocols — Continuity of Situational Awareness
• Operational Messaging Standards — Alerts to Partners and Passengers
• Control Room Dashboards — Early Warning of Stand and Gate Conflicts

Day 3: Collaborative Decision-Making and Turnaround Performance

• A-CDM Milestone Approach — Shared Times From Landing to Off-Block
• TOBT and TSAT Discipline — Departure Sequencing Accuracy
• Turnaround Critical Path Analysis — Delay Drivers on the Stand
• Ground Handling Resource Matching — Staff and Equipment per Wave
• Delay Coding and Attribution — Fair Root Cause Between Partners

Day 4: Airside Operations Coordination

• Stand Allocation Rules — Aircraft Size, Contact Gates and Towing
• Apron Movement Control — Pushback, Taxi Lanes and Vehicle Routes
• Foreign Object Debris Prevention — Inspection Frequency and Reporting
• Airside Safety Occurrence Trends — Ground Damage and Runway Incursions
• Low Visibility and Adverse Weather Procedures — Reduced Rate Planning

Day 5: Terminal and Passenger Flow

• Passenger Flow Modelling — Check-In, Security and Border Queues
• Gate Allocation and Bussing Decisions — Walking Distance Versus Stand Use
• Baggage System Performance — Mishandled Bag and Reclaim Times
• Passengers With Reduced Mobility Service — Booking and Response Standards
• Terminal Wayfinding and Information Displays — Passenger Confidence During Delays

Day 6: Capacity and Seasonal Planning

• Declared Capacity Calculation — Runway, Stand and Terminal Limits
• Slot Coordination Inputs — Schedule Requests Versus Infrastructure Reality
• Seasonal Stand and Gate Planning — Peak Day Simulations
• Resource Rostering Models — Staffing to Forecast Waves
• Construction Phasing Impacts — Capacity Loss During Expansion Works

Day 7: Irregular Operations Recovery

• IROPS Escalation Ladder — From Minor Delay to Airport-Wide Disruption
• Mass Diversion Handling — Stand Overflow and Passenger Welfare
• System Outage Fallback Procedures — Manual Check-In and Boarding
• Stranded Passenger Care — Accommodation, Food and Communication
• Recovery Sequencing — Restoring the Schedule After Closure

Day 8: Emergency and Crisis Coordination

• Airport Emergency Plan Interfaces — Operations Versus Emergency Command
• Crisis Communication Protocols — Media, Airlines and Families
• Security Alert Responses — Terminal Evacuation and Search Decisions
• Public Health Event Procedures — Screening and Isolation Areas
• Tabletop Exercise Design — Testing Coordination Before Real Events

Day 9: Performance Measurement and Improvement

• On-Time Performance Indicators — Departure Punctuality and Airport-Caused Delay
• Passenger Experience Measures — Queue Times and Satisfaction Surveys
• Post-Event Reviews — Lessons From Disrupted Days
• Benchmarking With Peer Airports — Choosing Comparable Indicators
• Predictive Analytics for Operations — Forecasting Peaks and Bottlenecks

Day 10: Practising the Airport Operations Performance and Recovery Plan

• Peak Day Control Room Simulation — Applying A-CDM and Stand Allocation
• Storm Disruption Exercise — Applying the IROPS Escalation Ladder
• Capacity Stress Test — Applying Declared Capacity Calculations
• Indicator Set Review — Applying On-Time and Passenger Measures
• Airport Operations Performance and Recovery Plan — Final Playbook and Owners

Applying Airport Operations Control and Recovery After the Course

• Run a two-week review of turnaround milestones on the busiest wave and agree delay attribution rules with the main ground handler.
• Hold a tabletop exercise on a storm closure with airlines and agencies, testing the new escalation ladder and recovery sequence.

Airport Operations Control and Recovery Questions (FAQ)

What is airport operations control and recovery, and why does it matter now?

Airport operations control and recovery is the discipline of steering an airport's daily operation and restoring it after disruption. It matters now because traffic is close to capacity at many airports, so small delays quickly turn into stand gridlock and missed connections.

Which roles gain most from airport operations control and recovery training?

Duty managers and operations control centre staff gain most, followed by airside, terminal and planning leads. If you allocate stands, run shifts or coordinate partners on disrupted days, you gain methods for faster, shared decisions.

How does airport operations control and recovery training differ from an aerodrome safety course?

It focuses on performance and recovery rather than certification and safety standards. An aerodrome safety course concentrates on infrastructure and inspections; this course covers control room decisions, turnaround milestones, capacity planning and irregular operations.

What do you bring back from airport operations control and recovery training?

You bring back an airport playbook that sets escalation levels, stand and gate rules, capacity limits and performance indicators. It gives duty managers and partners one agreed reference for both normal and disrupted days.

Airport Operations Control and Recovery: The Way Forward

The airport operations performance and recovery plan first informs how the duty manager escalates a disrupted day and which stands and gates are protected. Duty managers, control centre coordinators and airline partners use it every shift. After its first major disruption, revisit the escalation thresholds and recovery sequence to see where partner communication or capacity limits need tightening.