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It's pretty uncommon in the U.S. to board a plane from stairs on the tarmac. There's almost always a gate. I haven't seen the "gate for the front, stairs for
by cameldrv 3y ago
It's pretty uncommon in the U.S. to board a plane from stairs on the tarmac. There's almost always a gate. I haven't seen the "gate for the front, stairs for the back" loading style in Europe, but I've seen two sets of stairs pretty often. If the goal is to save passenger time and inconvenience, having to take a bus out to a hard stand is definitely not worth the payoff of being able to load from both ends.
Loading and unloading from both ends is a lot faster though. United actually had a double ended gate that they were trying out years ago in Denver, which is the best of both worlds and saves a ton of time loading and unloading. It's this really long cantilever thing over the wing to reach the rear entrance. Unfortunately something broke on it one time and the jet bridge fell onto the wing, damaging the airplane, and they gave up on it.
- aeternum 3y agoYou shouldn't need a bus because the plane is at the gate. Stairs might be an issue for some but anyone that does not want to go down then back up stairs can wait and go out the front through the jetway. As others have pointed out, this method works great in many other countries.
- TylerE 3y agoThe tarmac at an airport is dangerous, noisy place. You don't want people wandering off.
- aeternum 3y agoRight but there are ways to handle this like collapsible barriers that would be quick to put in place. If people prefer to go through the jetway they always can and simply stay seated. This is proven out already in other countries, the ones that want to leave through the jetway stay seated and still get out faster because even if they are near the back most people around them leave through the rear so they make it out the forward jetway much quicker.