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By: - 21st July 2004 at 17:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I suspect it's more a matter of cost than a matter of time.
FR for instance here at BIQ doesn't use the air bridge. Therefore they don't have to pay for the air bridge fee.
By: - 21st July 2004 at 19:54 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
It is an almost exclusivly cost issue. Handling Fees are higher if air-bridges are used.
Mark
By: - 21st July 2004 at 19:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
maybe the scale of US airports make it unfeasible to bus pax out to aircraft on remote stands, leaving them with no other choice?
By: - 21st July 2004 at 19:57 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Maybe American airport authorities would rarther feed passengers directly onto the planes than risk them getting airside and into "trouble" ?
By: - 21st July 2004 at 21:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I think the biggest issue is weather. With about half the nation under snow for 3-4 months it doesn't make sense for force passengers to stand outside for boarding. The temperature swing in my part of the country will take you from 5 C to 35 C.
By: - 21st July 2004 at 21:40 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I think the biggest issue is weather. With about half the nation under snow for 3-4 months it doesn't make sense for force passengers to stand outside for boarding. The temperature swing in my part of the country will take you from 5 C to 35 C.
I was gonna post the same idea about weather. WD has beaten me to it :)
By: - 21st July 2004 at 21:40 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I would think it would mainly be a cost issue
By: - 21st July 2004 at 22:14 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Naive as I am, I had always thought that the use of a airbridge was included in the landing fee.
Is there anythinng airports don't charge airlines for?
Also, isn't there a question of first come, first served rather than who pays the most? I've had both airbridges and bus-to-terminal with most airlines, including BA.
By: - 21st July 2004 at 22:21 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
It depends how many airbridges are avaliable at a given airport.
BSL, for example, only has 6, and when there are a dozen or so flights leaving within an hour, obviously some of them will have to be bussed out/pax walk across the tarmac from Steps beside the gate to the aircraft.
Likewise sometimes at GLA, where on arrival with BA on the shuttle from LHR, although there's been an airbridge at the front of the aircraft, the rear door has been opened and steps rolled into place to speed up disembarkation.
By: - 21st July 2004 at 23:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Nope
Maybe American airport authorities would rarther feed passengers directly onto the planes than risk them getting airside and into "trouble" ?
It's an airport issue, Most seem to have the policy "if there is a bridge, you'll use it".
There is no prohibition against busses, Dulles uses them a lot...or at least they did last time I passed through.
And at DFW, American Eagle (the AA affiliated regional carrier group--which flies SAAB 340s and Embrear RJs into DFW) busses pax from the main terminals to their new satellite terminal. Nobody seems to have any security concerns.
By: - 22nd July 2004 at 00:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
John, many airports airbridges won't drop down low enough to attach to a Saab 340's (or many other smaaler aircrafts) doors.
By: - 22nd July 2004 at 04:02 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
At least in the US, airlines own the gates, not the airport. If you want a jetway and there isn't one currently in place the airline foots the bill. When my company went to an all jet fleet there was a mad dash to install jetways at airports that were only served by turboprops previously. The company had them built elsewhere then driven in and installed.
At IAD, Atlantic Coast Airlines owned all the gates at the A terminal and a few at the B terminal. When they dumped their support of UAL and went on their own as Independance Air they were set with their own gates. UAL on the other hand had to replace the lost feed from ACA with other airlines but they didn't have the gates since UAL didn't own them.
Also it can be a operational limitation for the smaller operators. Not all jetways can drop as low as needed for the small jets and not all small jets have plug-type doors. Bombardier never created a plug-door mod. for the CRJ's which leaves them with airstairs as their only option. Airstair aircraft can use a jetway with the addition of a ramp and some guard rails but it isn't an ideal sitituation.
The first ERJ's only had airstairs but our own engineering department created a plug-door mod back in 1998. That mod was then sold to Embraer and every future delivery we took had plug-doors. Other carriers could then opt for the plug door as well. The airports we service have slowly adding jetways so now nearly every destination we go to has them. In fact they just finished a large upgrade in EWR which eliminated every hard stand gate we use to have.
By: - 22nd July 2004 at 09:23 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Thanks for all the replies guys, V Interesting.
By: - 16th August 2004 at 22:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
ryanair does use bridges at malmo and mplat stansted the ryanair terminal arms do not move so you have to walk down stairs to the a/c, hope that helps ya
By: - 17th August 2004 at 09:43 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I think the biggest issue is weather. With about half the nation under snow for 3-4 months it doesn't make sense for force passengers to stand outside for boarding. The temperature swing in my part of the country will take you from 5 C to 35 C.
You mean that the weather is better in the UK or Ireland ??????? :D
That's right , the snow is melted there ;)
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By: LBARULES - 21st July 2004 at 16:58
I have noticed when watching Airline USA over the last few weeks, that Southwest always use jetbridges to board and disembark flights. The likes of Easyjet and Ryanair say that the airbridges make it too slow to board aircraft, yet the worlds biggest low cost airline with very short turnaround times use them.
Why is this?