Aircraft Boarding

The first two passengers take their places on the Flying Carpet. As soon as the other 25 or so join the boarding group the rope barrier will be withdrawn and they can walk directly to their seats. Rules are simple, eg. first to claim their place has priority. Lyn, the lady in red, standing on 11E, also overlaps the seats 12E ahead and 10E behind. Passengers with these seats will have to join the next group a minute or two later, and of course they will then have priority.

Window seat spaces are wider (to encourage them to be filled first), so there is room for passenger 11F, but Lyn’s bag intrudes on the space. However she will probably move her bag to her left to make room. Since both passengers will be sitting next to each other for the whole flight they will undoubtedly act politely and cooperatively. It’s a good way to “break the ice” too.

Rob, on 7B, is looking at the live screen display (not visible), which shows that window seat passenger 7A has already boarded in an earlier group. He is relieved that he won’t be disturbed by this passenger arriving in a later group.

The ‘FLYING CARPET’

The fastest way to
fill a plane

“HOP ON A FLYING CARPET”
Fynske Medier Danish news article 11 December 2010

DANISH

ENGLISH TRANSLATION - text only

Recent Newspaper Articles

“Aircraft in Slow motion”
Stiftstidende News Article, Denmark

DANISH

ENGLISH TRANSLATION - text only

“Fill a plane - How hard can it be?”
Stiftstidende, Feature Story, Denmark

DANISH

ENGLISH TRANSLATION - text only

“FLYING CARPET” representing the seating plan for a typical single aisle aircraft, configured for 132 Economy plus 16 Business Class seats.
Footprints on the mat represent 29 men, women, and children passengers, standing in their correct places, ready to board. Off to the right are the footprints of passengers who weren’t able to fit on the mat, but will join the next group a couple of minutes later.

The carpet is 2.0 m. wide x 5.6 m long, approximately. (6.5 x 18.5 feet).

The Flying Carpet system is far quicker than conventional boarding systems, especially Back-to-Front boarding, as can be seen in this video based on excerpts from repeated computer simulations. Obviously the video has been sped up to save time, but the figures used for distances, walking speeds, time to stow luggage, boarding group size, etc., were realistic and identical for each system.

Back-to-Front boarding is used by many airlines, mainly because it seems logical to fill the back of the plane first. But, as can be seen from the video, the passengers all clump together, and get in each other’s way, slowing down the whole process.

With the Flying Carpet system, passengers simply arrange themselves in row order, before proceeding to the plane, enabling each of them to go direct to their seats unimpeded. And as you can see in the video, they are scattered throughout the plane with plenty of elbow room to stow their bags and become seated. No wonder that the Flying Carpet almost halves boarding time, from nearly 16 minutes to just under 9 minutes.

How it Works
The Flying Carpet is simply a mat or carpet marked with the aircraft seating plan, drawn to scale, and placed at the departure lounge gate. When boarding begins the first 20 to 30 passengers step onto their allocated seat number. Within a minute the carpet is full, and the go-ahead is given to the group of passengers who then proceed through the gate along the corridor to the plane, rear seat passengers leading. Because they are in logical row order they arrive at their seats unimpeded, no-one has to push past anyone else. And being well-spaced along the whole length of the aisle, passengers have plenty of elbow room to stow their bags and take their seats.

Meanwhile, the next group of 20 to 30 are taking their place on the carpet, then head down the corridor, arriving at the plane door just as the passengers in the first group have become seated. They too can go to their seats unimpeded. Five or six such groups in rapid succession enable 150 passengers to fill a plane in less than 10 minutes, about half the usual time.

More details and explanation can be seen in the photo and diagram below.

Fewer Delays
As well as being far quicker on average, repeating the simulations over and over again (100 times) showed that the Flying Carpet was much more consistent. It’s less prone to gridlock. For example, if a passenger is slow or has difficulty putting his bag in the overhead locker it doesn’t hold up dozens of others. Fewer delays mean that planes leave on time and don’t miss their take-off slots, passengers arrive on schedule and don’t miss their connections.

Versatility
The majority of commercial airliners have two, or more commonly, three seats each side of a single aisle, serving medium short haul routes. Since they make more flights per day than the larger long-haul aircraft they account for around 90% of boarding events. One Flying Carpet design can handle most of these. It doesn’t matter that smaller aircraft have fewer rows or only two seats each side (as in business class), the unused spaces on the carpet are just that, unused.

Carpet Size
The largest single-aisle aircraft, such as the Airbus A321, has 36 rows, and with 3 seats each side it can carry 216 passengers. A 36 row Flying Carpet measures 2 metres wide x 7.5 metres long, a little longer than a car parking space.

Cost Savings
A recent American study found that a US$60,000,000 commercial airliner costs at least US$30 per minute while it is waiting to be filled with passengers. A European study puts the cost much higher; 72 Euros per minute (around US$100). Taking the conservative lower figure of US$30 per minute, 7 minutes saved by the Flying Carpet amounts to US$210 for a single flight. With several flights a day leaving from the same airport gate just one Flying Carpet cuts an airline’s costs by well over $1000 a day.

A bonus for airlines is that since passengers sort themselves out, less staff input and regimentation is needed. The system fits well with automatic boarding machines which are becoming more common nowadays with airlines seeking to minimise costs.

Other Boarding Systems
Researchers and experts the world over have studied the boarding problem and proposed alternative systems such as: Random, Rotating Zone, Block, Outside-In, WILMA (window/middle/aisle), Reverse Pyramid (Combination of Outside-In & Back-to-Front).

Random is one of the fastest but, as most passengers will attest, not a pleasant experience. All the other systems involve much regimentation and staff input. One researcher, an astrophysicist, found that it should be possible to fill a plane in about a quarter of the usual time, as long as every passenger was ready and willing to board when dictated by the computer, regardless of whether they wished to board together as a family or couple.

None, including Random, are as fast as the Flying Carpet, which has the added advantage of minimal regimentation; people can choose when they wish to board, as individuals, couples, or families.

Patent and Licensing
International Patent Protection is well advanced (passed PCT examination phase) and is likely to be granted soon. Inquiries from parties interested in licensing and/or commercialization are welcome.