The 30-Minute Airline Turnaround: How It Works

One of the most common questions I get asked is “How long do you get to spend in all these lovely destinations you fly to?” People still seem astonished when I respond with “around 30 minutes”, despite the majority of people having flown on low cost carriers. This answer tends to lead to many more questions, so I thought I’d write an article sharing insights into what’s become known as a ‘turnaround’, why it’s such a pivotal part of the low-cost model and all the things that have to happen during those 30 minutes for a turnaround to be successful.

For most low-cost short haul carriers, long gone are the days where the crew get to enjoy any time sunning themselves around a pool at their destination. Although there are some exceptions, most operate on a ‘there and back’ principle, with the crew starting and ending their day at the same airport.  The low cost model is all about reducing costs to boost profits. When an aircraft is on the ground it’s costing a company money as opposed to making it, so airline’s want their aircraft on the ground for as little time as possible. Most aircraft operate multiple legs per day, so any time saved in between each leg can mean they can schedule even more flights for that aircraft, equating to more profit.

Southwest Airlines in the U.S. was one of the first to recognize this opportunity. In 1972, they optimized every aspect of what needs to happen from the moment an aircraft arrives at the stand to the moment it’s ready to push back for its next flight. Their goal was to minimize this time and maximize the utilization of both aircraft and crew. 

Amazingly, they achieved a 10-minute turnaround. Even today, I can’t comprehend how they managed to de-board and board approximately 180 passengers in just 10 minutes—let alone complete the 100+ other tasks that need to take place—but they did it! Since then, other airlines have followed suit. Over time, the 10-minute target proved unsustainable, and most airlines, including Southwest, have settled on a 30-minute turnaround target. Compared to 10 minutes, 30 may sound leisurely, but it’s still optimized to the second, placing significant workloads and time pressure on crews.

Turnarounds by nature require lots of moving parts, machinery, people and teams. To do it in such a small time frame requires the array of tasks to be done simultaneously and in harmony. When it goes well, it’s a highly efficient work of art. The problem with this level of optimisation is that it’s incredibly easy for one small issue to derail the whole operation, with knock on impacts extending throughout the day.

So what needs to happen in these 30 minutes? I’ll try to walk you through it. 

A Pilot’s Perspective

Turnarounds are often the busiest part of a pilot’s day. For a pilot with strong workload management skills, preparation for the next flight begins long before landing. During the cruise phase of the preceding leg, pilots can complete tasks to save valuable minutes on the ground. For example, we meticulously review flight plans, discuss fuel requirements, and prepare our iPads by loading outbound charts, routing, and performance modules. Although these steps aren’t part of standard operating procedures (SOPs), they reduce our workload during the busy turnaround.

As soon as we arrive on stand and switch the beacon light off, indicating the parking brake is set and power to the engines has been cut, the ramp springs to life. Baggage handlers, catering trucks, jet bridges or steps, fuel trucks, water and waste trucks and various other members of ground staff all converge on the aircraft.

These teams are led by a Turnaround Coordinator (TCO), who liaises with ground teams and check-in staff whilst also passing relevant information to the pilots and cabin crew.

Dividing Tasks

During a turnaround, tasks in the flight deck are divided in two ways: by Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot Monitoring (PM) roles, and by rank (captain or first officer). For each leg, one pilot is designated PF, responsible for flying the aircraft or managing the autopilot, while the other serves as PM, monitoring the PF’s actions, handling radio communications, and completing various administrative tasks. These roles alternate with each leg.

Once we’ve completed the shutdown checklist, the PF from the previous sector becomes the PM for the next. They’ll finish administrative tasks—such as logging flight times and remaining fuel—and then set up the aircraft for their flying sector. Meanwhile, the new PF begins programming the Flight Management Computer (FMC) with data from the flight plan, including routing, weather information, and performance figures. They’ll also program an engine-out departure procedure to ensure safe terrain clearance in case of an engine failure after takeoff.

While the PF focuses on these tasks, the PM conducts a walkaround inspection of the aircraft’s exterior to check for damage or issues from the previous flight. Although aircraft undergo daily inspections by qualified engineers, pilots conduct their own checks to satisfy themselves about the aircraft’s condition—and it’s a good chance to stretch their legs!

Cabin Preparation 

As soon as the last passenger is off, the cabin can be cleaned. It would be too expensive and time consuming to bring on a team of cleaners for every turnaround so unfortunately, this task falls to the cabin crew, something many people don’t realise (especially judging by the state some passengers leave the cabin in!). The crew tidy the cabin whilst doing their safety checks, making it presentable and safe for the next load of passengers. The minute they’re done, the next load of passengers will be boarded.

Final Preparations

With the walkaround complete, both pilots now reconvene in the flightdeck to start running performance calculations using the passenger and baggage figures handed to us by the TCO. In my airline, we both run calculations independently of each other and then go through multiple cross checking procedures to minimise the possibility of errors.

After plugging all the data into our Ipads, the PF inputs the calculated take-off speeds and weight and balance figures into the aircraft.

PM will then get a departure clearance from ATC, before reviewing and cross checking everything the PF has inputted into the aircraft’s computer against the flight plans and departure charts. Once done, the PF will begin an ‘interactive brief’ with the PM.

The aim of this is to check both pilots are sharing the same mental model of how the departure will be flown, whilst also ensuring any potential threats are discussed, avoided and mitigated. It’s building up both pilot’s situational awareness and ensuring they’re both on the same page. Once the brief is complete, we’ll run a checklist to ensure the aircraft is as ready as it can be to go.

Now the captain has a few extra jobs to do regardless of whether they’re PF or PM. They’re responsible for inputting details from the previous sector into the tech log, along with details on fuel and oil states of the aircraft before departure, and any de-icing procedure details. They’ll likely also have an array of paperwork to sign from the ramp agents and eventually they’ll sign for acceptance of the aircraft to confirm they’re happy and legal to operate it.

It’s usually somewhere during this signing frenzy that the first officer gets their phone out to start scrolling Instagram. Some older captains get a bee in their bonnet about this, but as long as absolutely everything is completed and ready to go from the FO’s side and there’s nothing more they can do to help out, I don’t have an issue with it.

Pushback

As soon as the last passenger is on, the captain makes a welcome on board PA whilst the ground crew are doing one final walkaround of the exterior of the aircraft and connecting a tug to the front wheel in preparation for pushback. As soon as you get the all clear from the ground crew and tower to pushback, the park brake comes off and you’re away!

Well, that’s in theory anyway! The above is a perfect turn around. All that in 30 minutes is still quite a feat and honestly lots of the time it does come right down to the final minute.

Challenges and the Future

Although it’s lovely having everything so efficient, there are some drawbacks to this level of optimisation. Most notably, it doesn’t leave much room for things to go wrong. It’s not uncommon for an airframe to operate 6-8 flying legs per day so unfortunately when one turnaround doesn’t go to plan, the knock on effects can be drastic and impact the entire day. 

For the flight operations team who decide the length of turnarounds and number of flights to schedule, it’s a toss-up between the ability to absorb a delay, and the utilisation of the aircraft. Give too much time and it costs the airline money with aircraft sat on the ground unnecessarily. Give too little time and it risks costing the airline in delays and compensation fees, along with reputation if multiple sectors each day are delayed due to issues earlier in the day.

One way some airlines handle the above issue is by introducing ‘firewalls’ during the day; a block of time set aside for the aircraft to sit idle in the middle of a busy day, giving some breathing room for any delays to be absorbed and allowing the afternoon flights to still run on time. I can say from experience that the firewall is a very welcome idea during summer!

So, it’s been 50 years since Southwest achieved the 10 minute turn, what does the future of a turnaround look like? It’s hard to see how much more time optimization can really take place as there are a set number of tasks that just have to take a set amount of time. There are certainly ways that technology can relieve the workload in the flightdeck; flight plans and weight & balance data being automatically sent and uploaded into our aircraft without the need for pilot input would save a lot of time.

Many airlines still trial various new procedures to try and save literally seconds off a turnaround, however from a crew’s point of view many of these are actually detrimental to certain aspects of the job. I think the focus from management should now be on delay minimisation as opposed to even shorter target times for turnarounds. Find the things that consistently stop turnarounds going to plan currently and put money & time into fixing those problems. That’s just my two cents worth though!