SOP Throwdown: How SOPs Impact Your Topline

Every FBO manager has heard it: "We've always done 3 feet." Maybe it came from insurance. Maybe from a veteran line chief who's seen one too many wingtip kisses. Maybe it's just tribal knowledge that nobody questions.

What nobody mentions: Every extra 6 inches of clearance across 6-12 aircraft compounds into a full parking position you're leaving empty.

So we asked: What's the real utilization penalty of being conservative?

We ran the experiment.

The Setup: Same Hangar, Six Different Rulebooks

We took a 150' × 200' hangar and built a digital twin in AirPlx—capturing every detail that matters for real operations:

Step 1: Build your hangar's digital twin—exact dimensions, door locations, swing clearances, fixed obstacles (columns, HVAC), movable equipment zones

This isn't a generic hangar template. AirPlx models your actual facility: where the bi-fold doors are positioned, how much clearance they need when opening, that structural column that always complicates things, the GPU parking zone, the tool cart staging areas. Everything that affects how you actually stack aircraft.

Built-in measuring tool captures precise dimensions—27.3 ft for that awkward support column—so the simulation matches your real-world constraints

Then we loaded it with a realistic mid-tier FBO fleet mix—18 aircraft representing what actually shows up during peak season:

The Fleet Mix:

• 1× Gulfstream G550 (the big space-eater)
• 4× Super-midsize jets (Citation Sovereign+)
• 7× Midsize jets (Challenger 350s, Citation XLS+, Longitude, Falcon 2000, Legacy 450, G200)
• 6× Light jets (Phenom 300s, CJ3+, CJ2+, Hawker 800XP)

Step 2: Load the actual aircraft by tail number with real dimensions

Step 3: Set the horizontal and vertical clearance rules for each trial

Same doors. Same pushback constraints. Same peak-season scenario where you're trying to fit everybody in at once.

The only variable: horizontal clearance SOPs.

We tested six scenarios (learn more about SOP implementation):

1. 2' spacing, no overlap (conservative)
2. 2' spacing, with overlap (trust your team)
3. 2.5' spacing, no overlap (cautious)
4. 2.5' spacing, with overlap (middle ground)
5. 3' spacing, no overlap (very conservative)
6. 3' spacing, with overlap (maximum safety buffer)

Understanding hangar optimization best practices helps refine your SOPs. Calculate your ROI on operational improvements.

For context: military standards recommend 10 feet between aircraft components in multi-aircraft hangars. Most civilian FBOs operate somewhere between 1.5' and 3' depending on crew skill, insurance requirements, and local safety culture.

The Results

For each scenario, we ran 250 million simulations—testing every possible combination of aircraft positions, rotations, and stacking sequences—to find the optimal configuration.

What does >100% utilization mean? We measure utilization by wingspan × length—the rectangular space each aircraft should need. When aircraft nest together strategically (like tucking one plane's nose under another's tail), you fit more than those rectangles suggest. 139% means we're fitting 39% more aircraft than the basic math says you should.

The data:

The biggest factor isn't the spacing — it's whether you allow strategic overlap (like tucking a Citation's nose under a Challenger's tail).

Going from "no overlap allowed" to "overlap with supervision" gave us 15-20 percentage points in additional utilization. That's the difference between fitting 6 aircraft and fitting 7.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

Trial 1: 2' spacing, no overlap = 119% utilization

Trial 2: 2' spacing, with overlap = 139% utilization (best performer)

Trial 3: 2.5' spacing, no overlap = 118% utilization

Trial 4: 2.5' spacing, with overlap = 136% utilization

Trial 5: 3' spacing, no overlap = 119% utilization

Trial 6: 3' spacing, with overlap = 135% utilization

Look at Trial 2 vs Trial 5: same hangar, same aircraft, same doors. The only difference is the SOP. One fits the fleet efficiently, the other leaves money on the table.

Small Adjustments, Big Revenue Swings

Let's break down what each SOP change actually costs you.

Going from 2' to 2.5' spacing (0.5' difference):

• Trial 2 (2' with overlap): 139% utilization
• Trial 4 (2.5' with overlap): 136% utilization
• Cost: 3 percentage points = roughly 1 aircraft during peak weeks
• Revenue impact: $8,400/week (1 midsize jet @ $1,200/night)

Going from 2.5' to 3' spacing (another 0.5'):

• Trial 4 (2.5' with overlap): 136% utilization
• Trial 6 (3' with overlap): 135% utilization
• Cost: 1 percentage point = minimal impact once you're already conservative

The overlap decision (biggest lever):

• Trial 1 (2' no overlap): 119% utilization
• Trial 2 (2' with overlap): 139% utilization
• Gain: 20 percentage points = 2-3 additional aircraft
• Revenue impact: $16,800-$25,200/week

That half-foot you're giving away "for safety"? It's costing you $8,400 every busy week. Not because it makes operations safer—because nobody's ever measured the actual trade-off.

What This Means in Dollars

Let's get specific. Overnight hangar fees vary by region and aircraft size, but let's use realistic numbers:

• Light jets: $600-$900/night
• Midsize jets: $900-$1,500/night
• Large cabin: $1,500-$2,500/night

In our simulation, going from a conservative 3' no-overlap policy (119% utilization) to an optimized 2' with-overlap policy (139%) meant fitting approximately 2-3 additional aircraft during peak periods.

Conservative math for one hangar:

• 2 extra midsize spots during a busy week @ $1,200/night = $16,800/week
• Peak ski season (5 weeks): $84,000
• Annual impact (assuming 20 peak weeks): $336,000

And that's just one hangar. If you operate 3+ hangars, multiply accordingly.

The ROI on an AirPlx subscription? About one peak weekend.

What It Comes Down To

Most hangar SOPs were written once, stapled to an operations manual, and never revisited. They're based on gut feel, worst-case scenarios, or "that's how we did it at my last base."

But with real data, you can ask better questions:

• What's our actual safety margin with current crew skill?
• Where's the breakpoint between capacity and risk?
• What would it take to earn that extra $100K/year?

If you're writing SOPs in a vacuum, you're probably leaving airplanes (and money) on the ramp.

Want to see what your hangar can actually handle? Run your real fleet mix through AirPlx with your actual dimensions and test different SOP scenarios. It takes 30 seconds and shows you exactly where the breakpoints are.

---

Sources & References

1. UFC 3-260-01: Airfield and Heliport Planning and Design - U.S. military aircraft clearance standards
2. NBAA Hangar and Ground Safety - Industry best practices for business aviation ground handlers
3. AirPlx simulation data: 250M scenarios per trial, 6 trials total (November 2025)