From Whiteboard Tetris to Confident Ramp Layouts

Challenge

Port City Air handles traffic most FBOs never see: C-17 Globemasters, KC-135 tankers, Italian Air Force deployments, and commercial flights from Allegiant and Breeze. Based at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease (KPSM) on the New Hampshire coastline, this family-owned operation has been exceeding expectations for over 30 years.

With 5 hangars totaling 120,000 square feet, nearly 200 employees, and an 11,321-foot runway with unlimited weight-bearing capacity, Port City Air serves everyone from single-engine Cessnas to military aircraft from the U.S., Royal Air Force, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, South Korea, and the Royal Australian Air Force.

Until recently, their ramp planning process depended on a whiteboard and the drawing skills of whoever was on shift.

When you're parking C-17s, KC-135s, KC-46s, C-5s, or a flight of NATO fighters, hope is not much of a plan.

Solution

At first, Port City Air used AirPlx mainly to test-fit aircraft and confirm they'd fit in specific ramp spots. But the bigger surprise was how much the tool helped them line up and sequence military arrivals.

AirPlx gave Port City Air:

• A mapped replica of their actual ramp — not a generic template
• Accurate spacing and aircraft footprint data — down to the inch
• A repeatable way to plan complex missions — that works the same every time
• A tool that made sense to team members with weeks of experience — not just the veterans

Results

One of the most demanding missions Port City Air handles involved the Italian Air Force heading to a Red Flag exercise in Alaska. The movement included:

• 6 Eurofighter Typhoons
• 6 F-35s
• 3 tankers
• 2 C-130s

Seventeen aircraft total, arriving in sequence. Planning it by hand took days.

Eurofighter Typhoon — one of 12 fighters Port City Air had to sequence alongside tankers and cargo aircraft

Fast support also matters: Port City Air deals with unusual aircraft regularly — WWII classics, foreign fighters, experimental variants. When they needed the Antonov AN-124 added (one of the largest cargo aircraft in the world, with a 226-foot wingspan), the AirPlx team delivered that same day.

That shift — from hope to confidence — changes how an entire operation runs. When you can show the plan on a screen instead of trusting someone's mental math, you get:

• Better handoffs between shifts — the next crew sees exactly what was planned
• Faster decision-making — no more walking the ramp to figure out if it'll work
• Fewer last-minute scrambles — problems show up in the software, not on the pavement