Mathematicians suggest new way for aircraft boarding

Researchers from Curtin University and Beihang University in Beijing say that they have found out a new 'third way' to improve airplane boarding.

Dr Tie-Qiao, the lead researcher, said that modelling has been based on factors such as routing, luggage congestion and takeoff runway scheduling. He said that his study is the first study to take a look at airplane boarding, according to ScienceWA. According to Phys, three styles of boarding was compared, which were random boarding, the current boarding method and the new way. Researchers say that the results showed that the most inefficient form of boarding was random boarding, with aisle congestion, queue jumping and jams before the gate. Boarding by assigned seating was a little bit better but it was still deemed as inefficient. This is because passengers in front of the queue were able to board at their 'maximum speed' and conflicts over seats occurred. The new way helps to avoid slowdowns in motion because attributions of peoples' carried luggage and tickets are checked automatically with electronic equipment right at the gate. The new method also uses seat numbers assigned based on peoples' optimal speeds. The new method proved to be optimal but as of now no airline has agreed to try the new method out.