BOARDING PROCESS ASSESSMENT OF NOVEL AIRCRAFT CABIN CONCEPTS

摘要

For airlines, an efficient aircraft turnaround is an essential element to be competitive. Passenger boarding and disembarking, as key processes of an aircraft turnaround, are often on the critical path. Hence, a passenger process time reduction would also shorten the total turnaround time. Novel cabin concepts which can be adapted during boarding, such as foldable seats, provide more space for passengers’ movements and them stowing luggage. Yet, such concepts have not been investigated thoroughly, even though they promise a significant process time reduction. This paper investigates a lifting seat pan and a sideways foldable seat concept using the two-dimensional agent-based passenger flow simulation framework PAXelerate. The case studies follow the Monte Carlo approach with a probabilistic distribution of passenger anthropometrics, a variation of load factor and hand luggage to be stowed. In comparison with a reference case, a state-of-the-art short-to-medium haul aircraft with 180 seats in a six-abreast single-aisle layout, a boarding time reduction of up to 28% could be identified. This can be translated into an 11%-shorter total turnaround time, which is a significant contribution towards promoted environmental goals of international regulators.