Just a month before release, the game had automatic gate assigning system. We just needed to provide a slot to land the plane. The plane would find a free gate itself.
But, because of community demand, manual gate assignment system was introduced. There has been more than 100+ requests for the feature… BEFORE release.
And actually, manual is more realistic, the gates are usually fixed for airlines IRL. That is what the Devs aim for. They want to introduce long term gate contracts in future where Airlines are assigned gates… like IRL. This would enable the Devs to introduce Airlines staff in game (Check-In, Boarding, Crew)
or something like this:
Currently the manual assignment is useless… (automated would have worked too) but in future gate contracts would require manual assignment… so the Devs have prepared for future.
@Olof @Fredrik Have I said this right? ^ Is there something like this planned?
Also as people have said above… Commercial stands are rarely used for GA. Click on your stand and change it to either GA only or Commercial only.