Boarding (transport) - Aviation

Aviation

At commercial airports, a boarding call on the public announcement system asks travelers to proceed to the exit gate and board the aircraft. This can begin any time from an hour to thirty minutes before departure (depending on the size of the plane and number of passengers). For boarding an aircraft, airstairs or jetways are used. Small aircraft may carry their own stairs.

Airlines control the access to the aircraft by checking passengers' boarding passes and matching them with the list of passengers. Many airlines use the IATA standard Bar Coded Boarding Passes (BCBP) to automate this process. A 2D bar code is scanned and the data are sent to the airline's system to look up the list of passengers. If the passenger is entitled to board, a positive message is sent back to the airline agent.

Boarding in air travel is supervised by ground personnel. The pilot is responsible for the boarding as soon as the doors are closed because by law the aircraft is then "in flight".

After boarding, the taxiing and takeoff will follow in most cases.

• Boarding bridge to an aircraft via a jetway.

• Having boarded, passengers stow their cabin baggage - Lufthansa Boeing 737-500.