Overview

Ramp Monitor tracks aircraft movements on the airfield, and in particular where an aircraft parks. From that, it derives market share by ramp: whose ramp picked up the arrivals, the departures, the parking hours, and the fuel uplift - and whose didn't. 

It's built for the commercial side of the business: FBOs, fuel suppliers, ground handlers, and the sales teams selling into aircraft operators, who need to know how a specific ramp or supplier is actually performing against the competition at an airport - not just how busy the airport is overall. 

What you can find out with it 

  • Which FBO is winning the transient traffic at a given airport, and how that share is trending
  • What's on the ramp right now, and what's expected to arrive or depart in the next hour
  • Who to contact at an operator that's based near, or flying frequently into, your target airports
  • A custom export of exactly the fields you need, in the order you need them, for analysis outside the platform

The five areas

AreaTypeWhat it gives you
Ramp DistributionHistoricalAggregated view of completed parking activity over the selected date range: the TAM KPIs, market share, and polygon / FBO detail.
Current Ramp — Live StatusLiveReal-time snapshot of what is parked right now, by airport and ramp.
Current Ramp — Inbound / OutboundLiveReal-time arrivals, current parking and departures, combined with FAA scheduled flight plans.
ContactsReferenceOperator contacts and operator profiles
Create ReportExportA custom data export - pick tyour fields, your order, your format.

 

Core concepts

Service polygon (service ramp)

A geofence drawn on the airport surface marking one operator's territory - an FBO ramp, an MRO apron, a terminal, and so on. When an aircraft parks inside it, the parking, the fuel uplift, and the tail are credited to that operator. Technically it's a point-in-polygon test: the aircraft's position is checked against every polygon's boundary at that airport, and whichever polygon contains it gets the aircraft. This is what lets Ramp Monitor report market share at ramp level, not just airport level.

Fig 1 — Service polygons at Westchester County Airport (HPN). Each shaded shape is one operator’s ramp; the numbered markers are parked aircraft counts.

 

Polygon categories

Every polygon belongs to one of 17 categories. The first 13 are real service and operational ramps; the last 4 aren't ramps at all - they record why a position couldn't be credited to an operator.

CategoryWhat it isExamples
Service & operational categories
Tenant/OperatorAreas tied to a specific tenant or aircraft operator (based operators, corporate flight departments, tour and charter) rather than a public FBO.5 Star Helicopter Tours; Aero Center Atlanta
FBOFixed Base Operator ramps — commercial operators providing parking, fuel and handling to business and general-aviation aircraft. The core revenue ramps.AAP Jet Center; ACI Jet; Aero Center Tallahassee
MRO FacilityMaintenance, Repair and Overhaul shops — avionics, airframe and engine facilities.A&P Aircraft; Addison Avionics Group
CargoFreight and cargo aprons and facilities.Air Cargo West; Air France Cargo; Cargo Ramp
TrainingFlight schools and training academies.ATP Flight School; American Flyers School
GovernmentGovernment, airport-authority and emergency-service areas.Airport Operations; Control Tower; Fire Department
MilitaryMilitary and national-guard aprons.Air National Guard; Army National Guard
Aviation FacilityGeneral-aviation facilities not classed as FBO or MRO — hangars, aprons, customs.Apron W; Customs Ramp; Hangar
Ground HandlerGround-handling, catering and logistics providers.Gateway Logistics Group; LSG Sky Chefs
Commercial TerminalScheduled-airline terminals and aprons.Commercial Terminal; North Apron
OtherMiscellaneous non-service sites, such as aviation museums.American Airpower Museum; Planes Of Fame Air Museum
ManufacturerAirframe and OEM manufacturer sites and delivery centres.Boeing; Bombardier Aerospace; Dassault Aviation
Airside InfrastructureAirside infrastructure such as heliports and helipads.Claude I Howard Heliport; Helipad
Special / non-service allocations
Service Polygon TBDA known service polygon whose operator or supplier name is still being researched. Real ramp activity, name pending.Service Polygon TBD
Runway / TaxiwayThe position resolved to a runway or taxiway — a movement area, not a ramp.Non Service Polygon
Not AllocatableThe position cannot be assigned to any polygon.Geo Position N/A
Unmapped TrafficTraffic not yet mapped to any polygon.Not Mapped to Polygon

Polygon / FBO Name and allocation outcome

Polygon / FBO Name is the name of the polygon an aircraft parked in - for example Signature Flight Support. Every parked position ends in exactly one of these states:

  • A named service polygon - fully attributed to that operator.
  • Service Polygon TBD - known to be a service polygon, but the supplier hasn't been researched yet.
  • Non Service Polygon - the position resolved to a runway or taxiway rather than a ramp.
  • Geo Position N/A - no geo position was captured for the aircraft.
  • Not Mapped to Polygon - the traffic hasn't yet been mapped to a polygon.

Primary Fuel Brand

The into-plane fuel brand at the polygon - a real brand (AVFUEL, Phillips 66, World Fuel, AEG Fuels, and so on) or Independent, meaning the location fuels outside any branded network. Where no brand applies, the field carries one of three explanatory values instead, each prefixed "Fuel Brand:" so they group together: Not Applicable (no into-plane fuel service), Under Research (identified, brand not yet researched), or Not Allocatable (a single brand can't be reliably assigned).

Fig 2 — Primary Fuel Brand, showing real brands alongside the explanatory values.

 

TAM (Total Addressable Market)

The full business-aviation activity in scope, whether or not it sits on a mapped service ramp. It prefixes the four headline KPIs - TAM Arrivals, TAM Fuel, TAM Parking Hours and TAM Tails.

 

% Service Ramp Conversion

The share of activity that can be attributed to a specific service ramp rather than to one of the non-service allocations above. It's measured across every count - arrivals, tails, outbound uplift, parking hours - and each carries its own conversion figure. Read TAM and conversion together: TAM tells you how much activity there was; conversion tells you how much of it resolves to a named ramp. Conversion is below 100% because of the non-service allocations.

 

Homebased and Transient

Whether an aircraft is based at the airport where it parked (homebased) or is only visiting (transient).

 

HQ location versus base location

These answer different questions, and mixing them up is the most common point of confusion in the Contacts area. HQ City, HQ State and HQ Country are the operator's registered organisation address, integrated from JETNET. Base Country, Base Region and Base Airport are where the aircraft is actually based, inferred from flight activity rather than a registered field - so the two can differ. Operator homebase, an inferred operator-level base location distinct from both, is noted in-product as coming shortly.

 

Outbound fuel and TAM Fuel Uplift

TAM Fuel Uplift (USG) and Outbound Fuel (USG) are the same measure. Ramp Monitor uses outbound fuel only, because that is the fuel a ramp, FBO or service polygon uplifts to an aircraft departing the airport.

 

Market Sector

The top-level segment that scopes the whole product. The default is Business Aviation.

 

Field-name prefixes and units

Field names across Ramp Monitor use a small set of prefixes and units.

Prefix or unitMeaning
IB / PS / PE / OBInbound leg / Parking Start / Parking End / Outbound leg.
PA / HB / ACParked Airport / Home Base / Aircraft.
UTC / LocalA time zone-neutral timestamp / the same moment in the airport’s local time zone.
USGUS Gallons — the unit for every fuel measure.
ICAO / IATAFour-character / three-character airport codes. ICAO is also used for aircraft type designators.
kg / MSNKilograms (aircraft weight) / Manufacturer Serial Number.
Dimension / Metric / FilterSomething you group by / a number that aggregates / a control in the right-hand rail.

 

Parking Age Bands

Used in Inbound / Outbound to group parked aircraft by how long they've been on the ground, and available as the Parking Band filter:

BandMeaning
0–1 hoursJust arrived - likely a quick turn.
1–3 hoursShort stop.
3–6 hoursHalf-day stop.
6–12 hoursSame-day stop.
12–24 hoursOvernight.
24–72 hoursMulti-day stay.
3–7 daysExtended stay.
More than 1 weekLong-term parking, or possibly maintenance.

Data freshness

AreaUpdate behaviour
Ramp Distribution (historical)Updated daily - today you see yesterday's activity, so there is a one-day lag. Bounded by the Selected Date Range; "Latest Flight Record" shows the most recent flight loaded.
Live Status / Inbound-Outbound (live)Carries a "Last updated" timestamp in UTC and refreshes roughly every 10 minutes.

Exportable fields reference (Create Report)

Every field available in the Create Report field picker, grouped the way it's grouped on screen. Timeframe and geography fields use four prefixes: IB for the inbound leg, PS for parking start, PE for parking end, and OB for the outbound leg; PA describes the parked airport itself.

Timeframe fields

FieldWhat it means
IB Date / Date Time (UTC or Local)The date, or full timestamp, the aircraft arrived.
PS Date / Date Time (UTC or Local)When the aircraft came to rest on the ramp.
PE Date / Date Time (UTC or Local)When the aircraft left the ramp.
OB Date / Date Time (UTC or Local)When the aircraft departed the airport.

Geography fields

FieldWhat it means
IB Region / Country / City / Airport, IB Airport ICAO / IATAThe geography and code of the inbound origin airport.
IB Country Domestic / Intl., IB Intra / Extra CityWhether the inbound leg crossed the parked airport's national border, or stayed within its city.
PA Region / Country / City / Airport, PA Airport ICAO / IATAThe geography and code of the parked airport.
OB Region / Country / City / Airport, OB Airport ICAO / IATAThe geography and code of the outbound destination airport.
OB Country Domestic / Intl., OB Intra / Extra CityWhether the outbound leg crosses the parked airport's national border, or stays within its city.

Operator and ramp fields

FieldWhat it means
Operator Type, Entity, NameThe operator's category of use; the operating legal or business entity; the operator name.
FBO Name, FBO CategoryThe ramp the aircraft parked in (may carry an allocation, e.g. Geo Position N/A) and its category.
Fuel BrandThe into-plane fuel brand at the ramp, or one of the explanatory values - see Primary Fuel Brand above.

Aircraft fields

FieldWhat it means
AC Certification, AC Category / SegmentThe regulatory certification class, category and market/size segment of the aircraft.
AC Type, AC Code (ICAO), AC Seat ConfigurationThe aircraft type, its ICAO type designator, and cabin seating configuration or capacity.
AC Tailsign, AC Status, AC Serial NumberRegistration (tail number), operational/lifecycle status, and manufacturer serial number (MSN).
AC Model / AC OEMThe aircraft model and the airframe manufacturer.
AC Weight (kg)The aircraft weight in kilograms.
Engine Model / Engine OEMThe engine model and the engine manufacturer.
HB Status / HB Airport ICAOWhether the aircraft is homebased or transient at the parked airport, and its home base's ICAO code.
Jetnet AC IDThe JETNET unique aircraft identifier.
Flight NumberThe flight number of the leg.

Metrics

MetricWhat it means
Total / Average / Median Parking Days, Hours, or MinutesParking duration aggregated at the chosen scale. See the FAQ for which of Total, Average or Median to use.
Outbound Fuel (USG)The fuel a departing aircraft uplifts at the ramp - same measure as TAM Fuel Uplift.
Inbound Fuel (USG)Estimated fuel uplift associated with inbound arrivals. The TAM metrics elsewhere in Ramp Monitor use outbound fuel only; this inbound figure is available here specifically.
vs 1y ago: Inbound Fuel / Outbound Fuel / TailsThe same measure for the equivalent period one year earlier.
TailsCount of distinct aircraft - same measure as Active Aircraft.
Active Operators / Active AirportsCount of distinct operators, or airports, in the selection.

 

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