Dispatcher
Two jobs share the name: the licensed planner who prepares and co-signs each flight, and the ground coordinator running a turnaround.
Definition
In flight operations, the dispatcher is the licensed specialist who plans each flight — route, fuel, weather, alternates, NOTAMs — and, under FAA Part 121 rules, shares legal responsibility for the flight's release with the captain; EASA operators employ flight operations officers in a similar planning role without the joint authority. At many European and Asian airports the same word is used for the ground handler who coordinates the turnaround at the aircraft, collecting the loadsheet, the fuel figures and the passenger count.
What it means for you
You rarely meet the flight-planning dispatcher, but their work sets your day: the fuel decision that fixes how long the aircraft can hold before diverting, the alternate airport where you could end up spending the night. The turnaround dispatcher is the person in the hi-vis at the door on a short-haul day, and the purser's paperwork exchange with them is what releases the flight.
In practice
A US flight attendant on a Delta transcontinental is flying a release that a dispatcher in Atlanta co-signed with the captain; if the weather at JFK closes in, that dispatcher is on the radio helping choose the diversion.
Related terms
4 terms- Ground staffRoles & ranksEveryone who works a flight from the ground — check-in, gate, ramp, loading, cleaning and fuelling — as opposed to the operating crew.
- Load controllerRoles & ranksThe specialist who calculates the aircraft's weight and balance and issues the loadsheet the captain must accept before departure.
- CaptainRoles & ranksThe pilot in command, legally responsible for the aircraft, everyone on board and every operational decision.
- DiversionFlight operationsLanding at an airport other than the planned destination — for weather, a technical fault, fuel or a medical emergency on board.