ABSTRACT
The airlines are currently undergoing difficult financial times. The increase in fuel prices, competition from low cost carriers, and operational inefficiencies have resulted in bankruptcies and major losses for airlines around the world. It is therefore extremely important for the airlines to be efficient in areas that they have control over. Airlines generate revenue by utilizing and flying their aircraft; they do not generate any revenue while their aircraft are on the ground. As a result, turnaround time is a major metric for an airline’s operations (Van den Briel et al. 2005). The time from the arrival of the aircraft until its next departure constitutes turnaround time. To have high utilization of their aircraft, airlines attempt to minimize the turnaround time. The components in turnaround time include taxi-in and taxi-out, passenger/baggage deplaning, maintenance checks, fueling and passenger/baggage boarding. The typical aircraft turn-around time for short-haul flights is approximately 30–60 minutes (see, for example, Van Landeghem and Beuselink 2002). A major component of turnaround time is the passenger boarding time. Horstmeier and Haan (2001) provide detailed analyses of all the components in an aircraft turn-around time including passenger deplaning, refueling, cleaning, catering, maintenance, and boarding. Because of safety and operational constraints, passenger boarding is the last task in this timeline. Any time saved through efficient boarding directly reduces the turnaround time.
