SITA Message Examples explained...

So despite the cryptic code, a few of you were able to decipher the bulk of the message which is more than I could do when I first started. Here's a quick explanation of the message examples I posted.

Starting with the departure message:

MVT
RAT0123/09.ECENZ.IST
AD1245/1253 EA 1559DUS
PX323

It's a Movement (MVT) message for flight number RAT0123 on the 9th of the month, aircraft registration EC-ENC, departing IST or Istanbul. The flight departed, as in off-blocks time or push back from the gate) at 1245z, and was airborne 8 minutes later at 1253z. It's estimated arrival time in DUS, Dusseldorf is 1559z, and it has 323 passengers on board.

The arrival message is pretty similar:

MVT
RAT0123/12.ECENZ.IST
AA1340/1354
SI NIL

It's a movement for RAT0123 again, for the 12th of the month, aircraft EC-ENZ arriving at Istanbul. It touched down on the runway at 1340z, and was on blocks at 1354z. The SI section is for supplementary information. We might use it to explain there were no stands available upon arrival if there is a large interval between touch down time and on blocks time.


The Load message:
LDM
RAT0123/09.ECENZ.Y323.3/8
-DUS.161/119/43/19.T.9335.2/2105.4/5330 5/1900 PAX/323 B/8775 C/1450

It's a Load/Distribution message for RAT0123 on 9th month, aircraft again EC-ENZ, with a seating configuration of 323Y, Y denoting economy class. 3/8 is the crew configuration, 3 flight deck member and 8 cabin crew.

Destined for Dusseldorf, there are 161 males, 119 females, 43 children and 19 infants (yikes!) Some airlines rather than using males, females, children and infants will instead using adults, children and infants, in which case it would read -DUS.280/43/19.

In the holds, there is a total of 9335kg of cargo and bags.
In hold 2, there is 2105kg,
In hold 4, there is 5330kg
In hold 5, there is 1900kg
There are 323 passengers on board, and of the total load in the holds, 8775kg of it is baggage, denoted by the B/8775, and the remaining 1450kg is Cargo, denoted by the C.
If it were a multi stop flight, say continuing on to Heathrow, it would have another line beginning -LHR with similar information on the load destined for Heathrow.


Finally, the CPM.
CPM
RAT0123/02.ECENZ.31904H01
-11L/PKC/IST/630/C
-12L/AKH/IST/600/C
-41L/AKH/IST/620/C
-42L/AKH/IST/583/BC/BY0
-43L/DZH/IST/96/E/BY
-5/IST/50/BY
SI - TWO BABY-STROLLERS IN CPT 5

The anonymous reply to the first post mentioned when reading CPMs, they picture it as an aircraft, which is a good idea to help understand it. By now you'll probably now it's a CPM message for RAT0123 on 2nd of the month, aircraft ECENZ. The 31904H01
part I'm not actually sure about, usually it mentions an aircraft type but I'm not familiar with these numbers. Any of my readers able to educate me?

Referring back to one of my old posts about widebody aircraft and their loading, that will explain the hold positions mentioned in the CPM of 11L and container types such as AKE and ALF.

The CPM simply describes what is located in each position in the hold, a bit like a more detailed LDM. So for the example, in position 11L, there is a ULD container, type PKC, destined for IST weighing 630kgs and contained Cargo. Similarly, in 12L and 41L there two AKH type containers for IST containing 600 and 620kgs of cargo respectively. In 42L, there is another AKH container with 583kg of club class or business class baggage, denoted by the BC, and no economy baggage denoted by the BY0.

In most aircraft I have dealt with, if they have a hold 5 it tends to be a smaller bulk hold in the tail of the aircraft where crew bags will go or last minute gate items. In this case, there is 50kg of economy baggage, and the SI section explains that it is two baby strollers/prams/buggies, call it what you will, or I prefer dpierce's explanation of "a duo of infant conveyances may be discovered in the fifth of the aircraft's various and sundry compartments."

I'm not sure whether part of the CPM got lost in the formatting while posting, or whether the example just didn't have it, but it should have twice as many lines or at least be twice as 'wide,' listing the contents of the right hand positions in the aircraft, so 11R, 12R etc.

The more you work with these messages the quicker you become at reading them. On a busy day in work, messages like these will be pouring out of a telex printer constantly together with other types of messages. As such, unless you keep up with it you'll find yourself with 30 ft of paper to go through looking for the information you need and checking you haven't missed anything!

SITA Message Examples

After my last post, Wayne asked just how cryptic the SITA operational messages we use are, so here are a few examples of each type. I ended up finding these examples in a few online manuals after some googling as opposed using some from my own place of work, that would only give away my anonymity!

Starting with a departure message:

MVT
RAT0123/09.ECENZ.IST
AD1245/1253 EA 1559DUS
PX323

An arrival message:

MVT
RAT0123/12.ECENZ.IST
AA1340/1354
SI NIL

A Load Distribution Message:

LDM
RAT0123/09.ECENZ.Y323.3/8
-DUS.161/119/43/19.T.9335.2/2105.4/5330 5/1900 PAX/323 B/8775 C/1450


And finally, a Container/Pallet message:

CPM
RAT0123/02.ECENZ.31904H01
-11L/PKC/IST/630/C
-12L/AKH/IST/600/C
-41L/AKH/IST/620/C
-42L/AKH/IST/583/BC/BY0
-43L/DZH/IST/96/E/BY
-5/IST/50/BYSIT
SI - TWO BABY-STROLLERS IN CPT 5

Have a go at trying to decipher them, I'll post a brief explanation in a day or two. As a hint, RAT0123 is the 'fictional' flight number and EC-ENZ the registration of the aircraft, I haven't looked to see if it exists.

Ops secret text messaging

Here's a brief insight into the 'secret world' of airline operations and text messaging.

Working for a company that represents and handles airlines at our station, we are obliged to send short text messages to the airlines operations department and other companies that may need to be notified updating them on the progress, or slow-gress of the flight.

Consider a flight for example that departs from my station. Once airborne, we must send a message to the airline HQ as well as the handling company at the destination airport(s) notifying them of the aircraft's departure times, estimated arrival time at destination, and any other significant information such as passengers that require special assistance. The airline HQ receives these messages and it acts as a voiceless method of being able to track their aircraft in real time. Similarly, the workers at the destination airport now know an arrival time for the aircraft and can plan accordingly, so they are ready for its arrival. These types of messages are known as MoVemenT messages, or MVT messages. We send one for every flight we handle, using a specific (primative, but functional) network that we're all connected to.

When the aircraft arrives downroute, the station will send a message back to us and also to the airline's ops department, detailing its touchdown time and on-blocks time. This lets both parties know that the aircraft has arrived safely. These messages are known as Arrival messages.

There are endless other types of messages we use; some are just variations on the message and others are more specific to the loading of the flight. Load Distribution Messages, or LDM are sent in a similar manner. These messages explain how the aircraft has been loaded, such as how much cargo and baggage is onboard, and how its distributed within the holds. These are particularly necessary for multi-stop flights, so we know in advance where the cargo and bags that need offloaded at our station, are located in the holds.

LDMs must be sent before the aircraft is due to arrive down route. Obviously it wouldn't be much use sending a LDM after the aircraft arrives, as we'd have already opened it up and started looking for our cargo and bags. In most instances, LDMs are sent automatically even before aircraft departure, once the flight has been finalised or closed.

Another variation of a LDM is a CPM, or Container/Pallet distributon Message. These are more common with larger, widebody or cargo aircraft. It lists the positions of each ULD or pallet in the holds, together with what's loaded into it, such as cargo, baggage, crew bags or simply empty.

All these messages are sent via a network called SITA, many will be aware of it or even use it and others will have at least heard of it. If you don't fit into either group, fear not, as you aren't missing out on much! Messages sent via SITA are charged for, and usually by the number of characters. As such, all the messages have a strict format of abbreviations and codes that look like random numbers and letters and mean very little to the untrained eye. They take time to get used to, but after that reading them becomes second nature. I can read MVTs, LDMs or CPMS much quicker than I can read some silly text message from a friend using 'txt sp8k.

So there you have it, a quick insight into the voice-less exchange of information between many parties in the airline industry.