Maximize stand utilization and reduce gate congestion with Better Stand & Gate

Imagine an airport where allocation plans are not made manually in legacy systems. An airport where scenario planning is not cumbersome and time consuming — where plan quality is no longer driven by airline preferences alone, but by every factor that should be included. This is Better Stand & Gate: The efficient gate management system to optimize your airport operations.

Better Stand & Gate makes it simple and efficient to optimize how you allocate your stand and gate infrastructure, both in planning environments and in real-time situations. This allows you to improve operation, maximize stand utilization, and minimize congestion at the gates.

Better Stand & Gate is part of Better Airport® – the world’s leading connected operations platform for airport operators.

Three key benefits for your airport

Plan ahead, react in real time

Better Stand & Gate makes it easy to allocate your stands, gates, towing and busing while machine learning predicts flight links and estimated arrival / departure times. Live optimization is enabled through integration with all your available data sources, including your AODB.

Fully customizable for complete confidence

Better Stand & Gate can easily be customized according to airline preferences, apron layout, commercial/retail interests, stand dependencies, gate types, busing and more.

Everyone on the same page

Like all Better Airport modules, Better Stand & Gate is a common operating platform. This creates transparency internally and with external stakeholders, bringing clarity and confidence to your workflow.

Why work in data silos when you can work together with a unified gate management system?

As an analytical platform, Better Stand & Gate, a leading gate management system, can be applied in daily operations and bring consensus between operational, tactical, and strategic levels. Better Stand & Gate ensures:

One source of truth by allowing your airport, all airlines and handlers to see and work with the same up-to-date plans.
Better communication by ensuring that everyone has access to the same information and can operate according to plan.
Live updates and optimization of your plans through integrations with all your available data sources, including your Airport Operational Database (AODB).

Explore a 30 min. one-on-one live demo with an expert to see how Better Stand & Gate can fit your needs:

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Optimization made accessible

Better Stand & Gate is the gate management system that makes a complex operation accessible. The solution offers an intuitive user experience that allows your staff to create maximum value from the system.

Using advanced mathematical modeling and machine learning, Better Stand & Gate optimizes the allocation of stands and gates to aircraft turn-rounds with respect to the specified business goals. What’s more, the gate pass management system optimizes stand and gate allocation while complying with infrastructure restrictions and maximizing compliance with stand preference. Match with an intelligent baggage handling system that enables smooth, dynamic, and flexible baggage planning, baggage reclaim, and reduced reclaim wait times.

With Better Stand & Gate, your airport gains numerous benefits — including improved utilization of parking stands, reduction in delays, less fuel burn, and fewer passengers missing their flights. This is optimization made accessible; this is Better Stand & Gate.

Webinar:

Bring transparency to your airport with a comprehensive gate management system

Better Stand & Gate can be applied in daily operations and as an analytical platform bringing consensus between operational, tactical, and strategic levels.

As a cloud-based SaaS solution, Better Stand & Gate allows all users access to the gate management system through their preferred web browser — no on-site installation required. This allows all users to see and work with the same updated plans.

The solution functions as your one source of truth. It enables better, faster, and easier communication between your airlines, handlers, and airport. This ensures that everyone — and everything — can operate to plan, bringing optimization, collaboration, and transparency to your airport. Combine Better Stand & Gate with other modules such as Better Baggage or Better Forecast to optimize every vital aspect of your airport operations — and enter the future of airport management. Read more about Connected Operations.

Webinar: Explore the benefits of efficient turn-round handling

Case Study: Learn how MSP were able to fit a new airline into an already congested terminal

MSP, Minneapolis Saint-Paul International Airport, were able to introduce a new route during peak times without disrupting existing operations. By leveraging Better Stand and Gate, they were able to explore optimized stand and gate allocation scenarios, communicate with relevant stakeholders about best operational scenario and thus maximize utilization of existing capacity. And the results speak for themselves:

Accommodate a new airline in peak
No negative impact on existing operation
Maximize utilization of capacity

This approach gave MSP the confidence to present data-driven options to their stakeholders, building trust and demonstrating their capability to manage growth effectively.

Read the MSP case study

Better Stand & Gate FAQ

What does airport stand and gate allocation software do?

Airport stand and gate allocation software assigns aircraft parking positions and passenger gates while accounting for the operation's rules and priorities. Better Stand and Gate supports that planning task, including towing and multi-day stays. It is intended for decisions about how stand and gate infrastructure is used, rather than as a general replacement for every system involved in airside operations.

Which rules can influence an airport's stand and gate plan?

A stand and gate plan must reflect the airport's physical layout and operating priorities. Better Stand and Gate includes stand dependencies, gate types, airline preferences, and busing requirements. The airport should identify which conditions are mandatory and which are preferences during configuration. That distinction matters when available capacity cannot satisfy every preference and planners need to understand the trade-offs in an allocation.

Can stand and gate allocation plans respond to flight delays?

Better Stand and Gate supports operational replanning using updated information from connected data sources, including the airport's AODB. This allows the allocation plan to be reconsidered as the flight operation changes. What happens automatically depends on the agreed data feeds and operating workflow. Airports should confirm which updates trigger replanning, what stays protected and how a revised plan is reviewed before operational use.

Can stand allocation take account of towing and remote stands?

Towing and remote-stand operations are part of the stand allocation discussion, because a stand plan can create demand for additional movements and passenger transport. Better Stand and Gate includes towing in its scope. Copenhagen Optimization's Sydney work also included a customized busing model.

How can airports test whether existing gates can accommodate a new route?

Airports can compare allocation scenarios using the proposed flight schedule, existing traffic and agreed operating constraints. Better Stand and Gate was used at Minneapolis-Saint Paul to compare terminal options for a new international service. The study examined towing requirements, time between aircraft at gates and unallocated flights. This makes the discussion about operational trade-offs, rather than treating an apparently empty gate as proof of usable capacity.

What should an airport prepare before implementing stand and gate allocation software?

Prepare a representative flight schedule, a description of the available stands and gates, and the rules that currently drive allocations. Include the people who own those rules, so the team can distinguish physical restrictions from preferences or inherited practice. The implementation scope should also identify data sources, operational users and how planning results will be validated.

The Better Airport software suite - get to know us module by module

Better Airport is a cloud-based airport management platform that gives airports of all sizes a simpler way to run core operations. The core modules of the Better Airport suite can be mixed and matched to fit your operational needs.

Click on the modules below to learn more.