Speeding up the airplane boarding process by using pre-boarding areas

Steiner, Albert; Philipp, Michel

Publication type:	Conference paper
Type of review:	Not specified
Title:	Speeding up the airplane boarding process by using pre-boarding areas
Authors:	Steiner, Albert Philipp, Michel
Conference details:	9th Swiss Transport Research Conference, Ascona, 9-11 September 2009
Issue Date:	2009
Language:	English
Subjects:	Airplane; Boarding; Pre-boarding; Simulation
Subject (DDC):	380: Transportation 658.5: Production management
Abstract:	One major business of civil aviation is to carry passengers between airports while providing good customer services at low costs. The turn time of an airplane, i.e. broadly speaking, the time that an airplane is on ground, is crucial for its utilisation and thus for the airline’s profitability. From this it follows, that the turn time needs to be as short as possible. In this paper we analyse various actions (inside and outside the airplane) to reduce the boarding time and hence the turn time. These actions were investigated with a specifically developed simulation tool (the Airplane Boarding Simulator (ABS)), and cover the whole process from (and including) the gate until the passengers arrive at their seats. The simulation model was calibrated by using video data from observations of eight boardings at Zurich airport. The primary goal was to determine the impact of the following factors on the boarding time: (i) number of pieces of hand luggage, (ii) pre-boarding area (and timing), (iii) boarding (seating) strategy inside the airplane, (iv) procedures at the gate desk (power-boarding, additional staff). Based on the experiences on-site and the results of the simulations we found, that with a reduced number of pieces of hand luggage, the use of a pre-boarding area and an appropriate boarding (seating) strategy, a reduction of the boarding time of around four minutes for airplanes of similar size than the Airbus A321 is possible. Moreover, we outline feasible actions that could lead to further improvements. In any case, a good coordination of the actions taken is of crucial importance, together with an appropriate training of the staff (airplane crew and ground) and a clear and easy to understand information of the passengers.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/14242
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	School of Engineering
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Data Analysis and Process Design (IDP)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen School of Engineering

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Steiner, A., & Philipp, M. (2009). Speeding up the airplane boarding process by using pre-boarding areas. 9th Swiss Transport Research Conference, Ascona, 9-11 September 2009.

Steiner, A. and Philipp, M. (2009) ‘Speeding up the airplane boarding process by using pre-boarding areas’, in 9th Swiss Transport Research Conference, Ascona, 9-11 September 2009.

A. Steiner and M. Philipp, “Speeding up the airplane boarding process by using pre-boarding areas,” in 9th Swiss Transport Research Conference, Ascona, 9-11 September 2009, 2009.

STEINER, Albert und Michel PHILIPP, 2009. Speeding up the airplane boarding process by using pre-boarding areas. In: 9th Swiss Transport Research Conference, Ascona, 9-11 September 2009. Conference paper. 2009

Steiner, Albert, and Michel Philipp. 2009. “Speeding up the Airplane Boarding Process by Using Pre-Boarding Areas.” Conference paper. In 9th Swiss Transport Research Conference, Ascona, 9-11 September 2009.

Steiner, Albert, and Michel Philipp. “Speeding up the Airplane Boarding Process by Using Pre-Boarding Areas.” 9th Swiss Transport Research Conference, Ascona, 9-11 September 2009, 2009.