The Passenger Boarding Strategy of Two-aisle Aircraft under Different Situations

With the increase of civilian passengers in China, it is becoming more and more important to reduce the turnaround time of flights. Since the boarding process accounts for one-third of turnaround time, to improve boarding efficiency can effectively reduce the flight transit time. This paper, taking the Airbus 330-300 as an example, studies the boarding strategies of two-aisle aircraft by establishing cellular automata model. Based on different load factors and carry-on luggage distributions, passenger boarding processes under different situations are simulated. And the optimal boarding strategy in different situations can be found by changing the use of cabin door, passenger interval, and the boarding order. The results show that the boarding efficiency of using the middle cabin door or both two cabin doors is higher than using the front door. In addition, the boarding time is positively correlated with the number of carry-on luggage. Therefore, airlines could shorten the boarding time by arranging cabin doors, controlling the time interval of passengers entering the cabin, and limiting the number of carry-on luggage in practice.