Airport Ground Support Equipment worked example

GSE Paint Booth Capacity at 63% paint booth uptime: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop paint booth uptime to 63%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Estimate usable paint booth capacity for GSE frames, panels, stairs, loaders, tugs, and service vehicles from booth cycles, uptime, and finish yield.

The inputs for this scenario

  • GSE units painted per booth cycle: 2 jobs/cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Available paint booth cycles in the period: 96 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Paint booth uptime: 63 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 88)
  • First-pass finish yield (no rework): 93 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross paint booth capacity = GSE paint jobs per booth cycle × available booth cycles.
  • Usable painted GSE capacity works out to 112 painted units at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gross paint booth capacity works out to 192 painted units at these inputs.
  • Capacity lost to downtime works out to 71.04 painted units at these inputs.
  • Paint jobs lost to finish rework works out to 8.47 painted units at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where paint booth uptime sits at 88% and the headline result is 157 painted units, this scenario comes in 28.41% below the baseline at 112 painted units.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to paint booth uptime, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It assumes a steady mix of GSE units per cycle; oversized items like deicers or wide aircraft tractors consume more booth time per unit and will pull real throughput below the figure shown.

Results at a glance

  • Usable painted GSE capacity: 112 painted units (headline result)
  • Gross paint booth capacity: 192 painted units
  • Capacity lost to downtime: 71.04 painted units
  • Paint jobs lost to finish rework: 8.47 painted units

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live GSE Paint Booth Capacity calculator, set paint booth uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.