The Flying Carpet

DC3 or Dreamliner, the Flying Carpet gets passengers aboard in half the time

Slow boarding is a bugbear for all travellers, and although researchers and airlines have tried different methods none are as good as the Flying Carpet system. Not just an idea, it really works, it was the fastest of all during trials comparing different boarding systems. Nor was it merely an academic study using staff or volunteers under contrived conditions either, these were real-world trials - at an airport, on scheduled flights, with normal passengers.

The principle of the Flying Carpet system is that it gets passengers into row order, spaced well apart, before they enter the plane. Moreover, it's very simple and doesn't need much input from gate staff.

A bonus is minimal Covid risk - shorter time, far less mingling (passengers no longer need to push past each other in a congested aircraft aisle) hence much lower chance of infection transfer.

In the first trial 171 passengers boarded an Airbus in 13 minutes, next trial saw 151 passengers aboard in 10 minutes. That's about the half the usual time.