Airport apron

The apron area of Prague Václav Havel Airport in the Czech Republic
The apron area of Simón Bolívar International Airport in Colombia
The apron area of Gran Canaria International Airport in Spain

The airport apron or apron, also known as tarmac, is the area of an airport where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, or boarded.[1] Although the use of the apron is covered by regulations, such as lighting on vehicles, it is typically more accessible to users than the runway or taxiway. However, the apron is not usually open to the general public and a permit may be required to gain access. By extension, the term "apron" is also used to identify the air traffic control position responsible for coordinating movement on this surface at busier airports.

The use of the apron may be controlled by the apron management service (apron control or apron advisory) to provide coordination between the users.

The apron is designated by the ICAO as not being part of the maneuvering area. All vehicles, aircraft and people using the apron are referred to as apron traffic.

Other terms

Airbus A380-800 operated by Qatar Airways at London Heathrow Airport apron outside Terminal 4 with a wide range of ground handling equipments around such as aircraft container, pallet loader, ULD, jet air starter, belt loader, pushback tug, catering vehicles and dollies.
Apron at Leeds Bradford Airport showing narrowbody aircraft, service vehicles, a tanker and jet bridges.

Flight line

The US military typically refers to the apron area as the flight line.

Tarmac

Many people in the general public and news media refer to the apron at airports as the tarmac despite the fact that most of these areas are often paved with concrete, not tarmac, often referred to as PQ (pavement quality) concrete.

Ramp

In the United States, the word ramp is an older term for an area where pre-flight activities were done; an apron was any area for parking and maintenance. Passenger gates are the main feature of a terminal ramp. The word apron is the ICAO and FAA terminology (the word ramp is not), so the word ramp is not used with this meaning outside the US, Canada, Maldives, and the Philippines.

See also

References

  1. ↑ FAA Advisory Circular 120-57A – See page 2 for definition of Apron (Ramp)
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