Gate (airport)

A gate is an area in an airport terminal that controls access to a passenger aircraft. While the exact specifications vary from airport to airport and country to country, most gates consist of a seated waiting area, a counter and a doorway leading to the aircraft. A gate adjacent to the stand where the aircraft is parked may be a contact gate, providing access by way of a jet bridge, or a ground-loaded gate, providing a path for passengers to leave the building to board via mobile stairs or airstairs built into the aircraft itself. A remote stand serves an aircraft stand further away, providing access to ground transportation to move passengers between the gate and the stand, where they board via stairs.[1]: 7-2 

Each gate typically corresponds to one parking stand on the airport's apron. A gate that provides access to multiple stands/jet bridges may have separate, designated doorways – sometimes termed sub-gates – for each stand. Commercial airport stands have airside components to facilitate passenger boarding and aircraft ground handling.[1]: 6-2 

While the term gate precisely refers only to the point of access for passengers, and the area where the aircraft itself is parked is precisely termed an aircraft stand,[2] in commercial passenger aviation the term gate is also used to refer to the gate and aircraft stand together as a single area.[1]: 7-2 

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference FAATerminalPlanning was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Certification Specifications (CS) and Guidance Material (GM) for Aerodromes Design CS-ADR-DSN (PDF), European Aviation Safety Agency, 27 February 2014, p. 5, 'Aircraft stand' means a designated area on an apron intended to be used for parking an aircraft.