Airport Delays

[HiloJulie]

“Which is to say: a tiny regional airport which doesn't have either spares or a second screening line.”

So the “International” designation is just for show?

“The plane in question was rated for trans-oceanic flights, but rescheduled to avoid these due to a persistent "cabin pressurization" warning.”

Good thing that plane was not based out of Hilo. It would have had a used bandaid taped over that persistent warning light. 

[kalakoa]

So the “International” designation is just for show?

Most airports are "international" because you can use them to reach a larger airport. Because marketing.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

So the “International” designation is just for show?

At this point in time it seems a little like Aloha “Estates” or Royal Hawaiian “Estates.”

[randomq]

Oh HiloJulie, are you really trying to prevent topic drift? On PunaWeb? :-)

[HiloJulie]

Oh HiloJulie, are you really trying to prevent topic drift? On PunaWeb? :-)

Yeh. Silly me.

[TomK]

“As for replacement aircraft just waiting to be used as a spare, how is that economical for the airline?”

It’s not.  My point was that it would be more compact than the warehouse(s) that would be required to store a complete line of replacement parts and the only way to avoid delay altogether.  It’s a more feasible suggestion than Julie’s, but still far, far away from economically viable.

I failed Sarcasm 101 but I keep trying.

Hi My 2 cents. I was responding to HiloJulie's post, not yours. I think we are both in agreement.

---

I am not discussing replacement jet engines or spare aircraft(s) sitting around just in case there is a failure. I am discussing the equipment used for the TSA bag screening process which failed. And has failed prior times in the past, resulting in hour long delays and taking 3 to 5 days to be repaired.

I've never worked in the airline industry but I do work in a high-tech field with complicated machinery and technology, much like airports and airlines. I would love it if we had a spare part for everything that might break, but it is not economically feasible, nor can we have technical staff available 24/7 every day of the year to fix a problem at the drop of a hat. Sometimes, even if we can respond quickly, it takes time to diagnose the problem fully. If I had a crystal ball and knew what might fail, I'd have that part available, but I don't, so we have spares for the most common things that break but not everything because we would never get the funding to do that.  It might also be impossible to buy the spare parts in advance as there is possibly a limited supply of them, so they only get sent when they are required. Generally, these are not things you can just go to Ace Hardware to buy.


Again, it's unfortunate the passengers were delayed a little bit (not three-and-a-half days) and yes, I would be annoyed if I was one of them. Still, I also understand economics and logistics will not allow all problems to be fixed there and then with no impact on anyone.

[HiloJulie]

“As for replacement aircraft just waiting to be used as a spare, how is that economical for the airline?”

It’s not.  My point was that it would be more compact than the warehouse(s) that would be required to store a complete line of replacement parts and the only way to avoid delay altogether.  It’s a more feasible suggestion than Julie’s, but still far, far away from economically viable.

I failed Sarcasm 101 but I keep trying.

Hi My 2 cents. I was responding to HiloJulie's post, not yours. I think we are both in agreement.

---

I am not discussing replacement jet engines or spare aircraft(s) sitting around just in case there is a failure. I am discussing the equipment used for the TSA bag screening process which failed. And has failed prior times in the past, resulting in hour long delays and taking 3 to 5 days to be repaired.

I've never worked in the airline industry but I do work in a high-tech field with complicated machinery and technology, much like airports and airlines. I would love it if we had a spare part for everything that might break, but it is not economically feasible, nor can we have technical staff available 24/7 every day of the year to fix a problem at the drop of a hat. Sometimes, even if we can respond quickly, it takes time to diagnose the problem fully. If I had a crystal ball and knew what might fail, I'd have that part available, but I don't, so we have spares for the most common things that break but not everything because we would never get the funding to do that.  It might also be impossible to buy the spare parts in advance as there is possibly a limited supply of them, so they only get sent when they are required. Generally, these are not things you can just go to Ace Hardware to buy.


Again, it's unfortunate the passengers were delayed a little bit (not three-and-a-half days) and yes, I would be annoyed if I was one of them. Still, I also understand economics and logistics will not allow all problems to be fixed there and then with no impact on anyone.

First and foremost, several of your responses to my posts claim that I said people were delayed three and one half days. I never said that. The airport baggage scanning machines were down for a total of three and one half days. Thats being quite disingenuous to say the least.

As for economic feasibility - the cost for the typical baggage scanning machine is not significant in the grand scheme of things, especially when you consider the overall downwind costs of these delays, as well as the potential for some type of security lapse that may occur.

A pursual of this article discusses the machine types used and their approximate costs:

How Much Do Airport Security Scanners Cost? (simpleflying.com)

All total - added up, were talking less than a million bucks to have spare baggage scanning capability.

When you consider we just (back in 2016) we spent 18 million bucks on the New Hilo Airport Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Station - and that's the brick-and-mortar costs only - not the half dozen quarter million bucks each trucks and apparatus vehicles plus all the additional non-vehicular equipment plus the wages for the staffing of this facility.

It's primary use so far has been several water cannon salutes of incoming jets for one reason or another.

At the end of the day, I really don't give a damn about the delays. It's the possible infringement of passenger safety that's at play that concerns me the most. Imagine if a plane crash landed at ITO and the fire department Captain has to say that there will be a few hour delay in responding due to the fire truck breaking down.

[TomK]

First and foremost, several of your responses to my posts claim that I said people were delayed three and one half days. I never said that. The airport baggage scanning machines were down for a total of three and one half days. Thats being quite disingenuous to say the least.

I made it very clear that I wasn't claiming you said passengers were delayed over three days. All I did was to emphasize that the delays to passengers were relatively small. The same or even worse delays to passengers would happen if some other piece of equipment had broken down, such as an important part of a plane. You can't plan for everything.

[HiloJulie]

First and foremost, several of your responses to my posts claim that I said people were delayed three and one half days. I never said that. The airport baggage scanning machines were down for a total of three and one half days. Thats being quite disingenuous to say the least.

I made it very clear that I wasn't claiming you said passengers were delayed over three days. All I did was to emphasize that the delays to passengers were relatively small. The same or even worse delays to passengers would happen if some other piece of equipment had broken down, such as an important part of a plane. You can't plan for everything.

The delays were several hours per passenger per flight and went on for three and one half days until the parts arrived and repairs made.

And, once yet again, to be clear, I am not discussing spare jet parts. (Having said that, no for-profit airline would ever, excepting catastrophic failure, leave a 717/737 on the tarmac for 3 and one half days waiting for spare part(s)). 

I am discussing the machines that scan passengers checked and carry-on baggage, which is the equipment that failed and further, has failed prior to this incident with more or less the same 3 to 5 day window to get spare parts and fix the issue.

This is one aspect of airport operations that could be planned for, quickly if not near immediately fixed and provide passenger safety. 

And at a reasonable cost.

[TomK]

I'm getting fed up with this. Tell us which specific part/s broke, which spares are easily accessible in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, how many staff are required to fix the problem, and how much it would cost. Then give a cost comparison of having every spare part possible at the airport, with technical staff available at the drop of a hat that would fix the same problem in as short a time as possible. Please factor in the costs of passenger delays and the cost of tickets when the airport charges an airline appropriate landing fees to have everything available at Hilo airport.