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 expla
nation 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, a
s in off-blocks time or push back from the gate) at 1245z, and was airborne 8 mi
nutes later at 1253z. It's estimated arrival time in DUS, Dusseldorf is 1559z, a
nd 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 ar
riving 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 expl
ain there were no stands available upon arrival if there is a large interval bet
ween 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 cre
w configuration, 3 flight deck member and 8 cabin crew.
Destined for Dusseldorf, there are 161 males, 119 females, 43 children and 19 in
fants (yikes!) Some airlines rather than using males, females, children and infa
nts 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, denote
d by the C.
If it were a multi stop flight, say continuing on to Heathrow, it would have ano
ther line beginning -LHR with similar information on the load destined for Heath
row.

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 pro
bably now it's a CPM message for RAT0123 on 2nd of the month, aircraft ECENZ. Th
e 31904H01
part I'm not actually sure about, usually it mentions an aircraft type but I'm n
ot 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 lik
e a more detailed LDM. So for the example, in position 11L, there is a ULD conta
iner, 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 deno
ted by the BY0.
In most aircraft I have dealt with, if they have a hold 5 it tends to be a small
er 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 e
xplains 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, o
r whether the example just didn't have it, but it should have twice as many line
s or at least be twice as 'wide,' listing the contents of the right hand positio
ns 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 wi
th it you'll find yourself with 30 ft of paper to go through looking for the inf
ormation you need and checking you haven't missed anything!