In a bid to have a faster aircraft turnaround between a landing and take-off, budget carrier IndiGo will now allow passengers to disembark from planes through three exit doors instead of two.
The three-point disembarkation process will be carried out from two forward and one rear exit ramp. IndiGo is the first airline in the world to use this process, it said.
For remote parking stands
To begin with, the airline will implement the new process for three flights arriving at remote parking stands, or flights parked further away from bridges each at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru airports, and will gradually scale it up and deploy it across other airports.
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“A A320 aircraft usually takes around 13 minutes for its passengers to deboard the aircraft. However, the new process will make the drill faster and will reduce the disembarkation time from 13 minutes to 7 minutes,” IndiGo’s CEO Ronojoy Dutta told reporters.
Better aircraft utilisation
A faster turnaround for airlines means better aircraft utilisation, especially when airport slots for arrival and departure at some of the busiest airports like Delhi and Mumbai are difficult to come by. Though bigger airports also have aerobridges that hasten the disembarking process, these are limited in number. For example, at Delhi airport which has three passenger terminals, Terminal 1 sees 100% flights use remote bays for parking, Terminal 2 sees 80% flights use them, while Terminal 3 which also accommodates international flights, sees 50% flights use remote parking, and the remaining use airbridges, explained IndiGo’s Executive Vice President, Mr. Sanjeev Ramdas.
