BOARDING I NNOVATION
“All passengers should be
seated in the aircraft
faster – and reliably faster”
strategies. The application of outside-in boarding and
infrastructural changes, such as the Side-Slip Seat (see
below), results in medium benefits, according to analysis.
The largest benefit, in terms of faster boarding times, can
be attained through the parallel use of the rear aircraft
door and individual-based pre-sorting of passengers.
The factor that has perhaps the largest negative effect on
boarding times is a blocked aisle, created when passengers
store their luggage overhead, or wait to enter their seat row.
One solution could be the Side-Slip Seat from Molon Labe,
an unusual staggered design which allows the aisle seat
to be slipped over the middle seat during boarding,
doubling the width of the aisle so passengers can pass
each other during boarding (the seat is slid back in
place towards the end of boarding). The design of
the Side-Slip Seat has two additional benefits: the
wider aisle enables full-size wheelchair access, and
the middle seat is 2in wider than the aisle and
window seats. Overall, this seat design results
in medium benefits for boarding times.
CONTROLLING BOARDING SEQUENCES
All current boarding procedures define a fixed set of
rules for passengers, and non-compliance with these rules
can lead to considerable disruptions during boarding.
Furthermore, airlines are keen to generate a range of
additional value-added services, including preferred
boarding. Thus boarding procedures always have to
consider services for premium customers, as well as
establish an optimal boarding sequence.
One possible solution is seatNow, a dynamic seating
allocation system whereby passengers only book seat
categories, such as window seats or group seating. The
system assigns specific seat numbers as the ticket holders
pass through the boarding gate, with the optimal sequence
recalculated as each passenger boards. The process retains
customer satisfaction, as passengers are still able to book
their preferred seat type.
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The concept benefits from the digitisation of handling
processes and the fact that more than half of passengers
use their smart devices for check-in (65% in Asia, 50%
in America, 49% in Europe)2. Thus, boarding passes with
assigned seats could be transmitted to personal devices or
printed out directly at the self-boarding gates. Short-haul
flights, which have particularly tight turnaround times,
would benefit most from this approach.
The dynamic optimisation process reduces negative
interactions between passengers to a minimum (75% fewer
negative interactions compared with conventional boarding
procedures). When seatNow underwent a field trial at
Cologne Bonn airport with a Eurowings A319, the partners
reported 22% faster boarding, which was more efficient
than the outside-in procedure, tested in parallel.
From an operational perspective, today‘s aircraft cabins
offer no information about boarding status. However, the
sensor-filled environment of a connected cabin could
provide a valuable set of information. Thus, a hardware
prototype was developed and used in field trials for the
seatNow concept6. The sensor environment consists of
seat sensors sourced from the automotive industry and
sensors under the floor of the aisle that detect passenger
movements and aisle congestion. This prototype sensor
environment has been used to demonstrate the reliable
detection of passenger positions, which are a useful input
for real-time progress evaluation7 and prediction of aircraft
boarding times using machine-learning algorithms8.
ABOVE AND BELOW: WITH THE
SIDE-SLIP SEAT, THE AISLE SEAT
IS INITIALLY POSITIONED OVER
THE MIDDLE SEAT DURING
BOARDING AND IS THEN MOVED
INTO THE TTL POSITION IF A
PASSENGER WANTS TO SIT IN
THE MIDDLE OR AISLE SEAT
During a live
boarding trial, a
22% time saving was
reported using
the seatNow
system
1. IATA, 2019. Global Passenger Survey
2. Marelli, S., Mattocks, G., Merry, R.
1998. The Role of Computer Simulation
in Reducing Airplane Turn Time
3. Schultz, M. (2018). Implementation
and Application of a Stochastic Aircraft
Boarding
Model. Transportation Research Part C:
Emerging Technologies, 90:334–349
4. Schultz, M. (2018). Field Trial
Measurements to Validate a Stochastic
Aircraft Boarding Model. Aerospace
5(1):27
5. Schultz, M. (2017). Dynamic change
of aircraft seat condition for fast
boarding. Transportation Research Part
C: Emerging Technologies, 85:131–147
6. Schultz, M. (2018). Fast Aircraft
Turnaround Enabled by Reliable
Passenger Boarding. Aerospace 5(1):8
7. Schultz, M. (2018). A metric for the
real-time evaluation of the aircraft
boarding progress
Transportation Research Part C:
Emerging Technologies, 86:467–487
8. Schultz, M. and Reitmann, S. (2018).
Machine learning approach to predict
aircraft boarding. Transportation
Research Part C: Emerging Technologies,
98: 391-408
REFERENCES
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