Do Any Airports Use R1 Door Jetways?

Boeing778X · Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:36 am

Something I've been curious about for the last few days, but are there currently any jetways that utilize the First Right door of an airliner these days?

What have been other strange positions jetways have been used on?

lhcvg · Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:41 am

Not exactly an answer to your question, but worth noting that some RJ's don't HAVE a true R1 door, just a mini "service door" for galley cart loading and etc. So that shows how strong the L1 thing is that some planes are designed without even the ability to do R1 boarding.

Boeing778X · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:31 am

Quoting LHCVG (Reply 1):
Not exactly an answer to your question, but worth noting that some RJ's don't HAVE a true R1 door, just a mini "service door" for galley cart loading and etc. So that shows how strong the L1 thing is that some planes are designed without even the ability to do R1 boarding.

That's true about RJs. I also know MD-80/-90s have tiny service R1 doors too.

AA737-823 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:47 am

Quoting Boeing778X (Reply 2):
I also know MD-80/-90s have tiny service R1 doors too.

As well as all 6000+ 737's. They're not as tiny as the DC-9 family or the RJ's, but you still must duck to get in or out of them.
Most people don't realize that fact, until they're in the midst of an evacuation...!

Boeing778X · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:55 am

Quoting AA737-823 (Reply 3):
As well as all 6000+ 737's. They're not as tiny as the DC-9 family or the RJ's, but you still must duck to get in or out of them.
Most people don't realize that fact, until they're in the midst of an evacuation...!

Noted for future reference

Fair enough. Now, loading through the REAR of the aircraft! Now there's a topic of discussion.

So, I guess WS does this with some gates in Canada.

hoons90 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:57 am

Quoting Boeing778X (Reply 4):

Fair enough. Now, loading through the REAR of the aircraft! Now there's a topic of discussion.

I once boarded a KLM 747-400 through door L4 at AMS. It was one of the gates at the F pier.

A332DTW · Sat Feb 14, 2015 7:29 am

If there are any fans of the TV show Friends on here, you may have noticed this scenario in the series finale. It was a Saul Bass United 767 using starboard side boarding... though I'm sure that was just a reflected image... and that it's a TV show

Of course being an aviation enthusiast, every time I see that scene I always correct the producers in my mind.

iahcsr · Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:17 am

Years ago the jetway of the adjacent gate at EWR was rotated over to the R2 door of a CO 747

vhqpa · Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:46 am

MEL used to have a aerobridge that connected to the Starboard door.

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Photo © George Canciani

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Photo © George Canciani

skywaymanaz · Sat Feb 14, 2015 2:00 pm

I boarded a TWA L-1011 at the old Sundrome T6 from the R1 door. I suspect that was how they were squeezing a widebody into that gate. The terminal no longer exists though. T5i is being built there.

STT757 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 2:10 pm

Around 1983 I boarded an Eastern L1011 at EWR bound for TPA, the flight was boarding through both the L-2 door and R-1 door.

Quoting skywaymanaz (Reply 9):
I boarded a TWA L-1011 at the old Sundrome T6 from the R1 door

Yup I have a picture from the early 1990s of a TWA L1011 at the gate at T6 boarding through R-1, the flight was going to SJU.

[Edited 2015-02-14 06:11:42]

airtrantpa · Sat Feb 14, 2015 2:21 pm

717 doors are small access doors. When I worked flights at airtran as a caterer id hit my head evey time because of how small the r1 door. I only bid the catering line once because of it. Stupid door

DL_Mech · Sat Feb 14, 2015 2:36 pm

Quoting skywaymanaz (Reply 9):

I boarded a TWA L-1011 at the old Sundrome T6 from the R1 door.

Here it is in the background.

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Photo © George Gayuski

ramprat74 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 4:04 pm

B-14 at Stapleton used door R1.

mjoelnir · Sat Feb 14, 2015 4:35 pm

I think it was done quite bit in years gone by, I remember air bridges being able to take the left door on one side and the right door when moved to the other side. It still could help a small airport taking in a big plane and wanting to use two airbridges. But I assume today you will not find any airport using right door boarding any longer.

ImperialAero · Sat Feb 14, 2015 4:58 pm

There are a number of gates at HND T2 that can be used to board on the R1 door. I'm not sure how often this is done, and I'll try to dig out the piece of work I did a while ago to highlight this practice.

jc2354 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:01 pm

I remember that the TWA terminal at JFK, had a few gates that had jetways to L2 and R1 for the 747s and L-1011s A few times on the 757, a tow-in gate, the jetway was positioned at R1.

ImperialAero · Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:02 pm

Also;

Boarding Via The Left (by GEG Jan 14 2005 in Civil Aviation)

warreng24 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:20 pm

IIRC Gate 4 at PHX Terminal 2 had a R1 jet bridge.

There's that vintage photo of a TW L10 at Gate 4 floating around somewhere...

aacun · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:21 pm

I remember boarding DC 10's at the old AA JFK terminal thru the 1R and 2R doors simultaneously...... It was soooooo weird.

ramprat74 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:31 pm

Quoting warreng24 (Reply 18):
IIRC Gate 4 at PHX Terminal 2 had a R1 jet bridge.

There's that vintage photo of a TW L10 at Gate 4 floating around somewhere...

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Photo © Ted Miley

cschleic · Sat Feb 14, 2015 7:34 pm

Didn't some LAX gates at one or two of the terminals (back when they were true satellites) have jetways on both sides of the plane?

global2 · Sat Feb 14, 2015 7:45 pm

Quoting Boeing778X (Reply 4):
Now, loading through the REAR of the aircraft! Now there's a topic of discussion.

Wow! I was about to comment that back in the day, it was fairly common to have jetways at both the front and the rear of the plane (both L side), but the plane parked parallel to the terminal. I've never seen done this way before!

A320FlyGuy · Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:38 pm

Quoting Boeing778X (Reply 2):
That's true about RJs. I also know MD-80/-90s have tiny service R1 doors too.

Actually, if you look at some DC-9s, you will notice that the R1 door extends above the upper window line and on some aircraft, it comes level with the top of the window line...

Small R1 Service Door:

Larger R1 Service Door:

uclax · Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:46 pm

In the original AA terminal at JFK, one pier had two end gates for heavies, and one was positioned to board at R1.
Also, the original, pre-expansion BA terminal at JFK had gates with airbridges to both the starboard and port sides of the same plane.

SKAirbus · Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:54 pm

When an A380 prototype visited MUC some years ago, they connected a jetty from the adjacent gate to door R1. Not sure why!

[Edited 2015-02-14 13:55:05]

einsteinboricua · Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:48 am

Quoting SKAirbus (Reply 25):

If EK can have that gate design at DXB for all of its A380 fleet (as in a terminal exclusively for A380) I'm betting it would cut boarding time in half and get more hours from those birds.

cloudboy · Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:12 am

Is there any benefit from using doors on both sides? I would think you would still end up with a traffic jam - even worse now, as you have people coming from both sides trying to walk down the aisle. Perhaps on the 380 you could have one side do the lower deck and the other the upper deck, but you could also do that from just the left. Maybe allow you to use more gate area in the terminal?

antoniemey · Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:50 am

Quoting cloudboy (Reply 27):
Is there any benefit from using doors on both sides?

well, on a widebody with two aisles, you have the passengers sitting on the right side of the plane board through the right door and the passengers sitting on the left board through the left door. The middle section could board through either side.

It would be somewhat harder to cater the forward galleys with that arrangement, but there are ways to make it work.

calpsafltskeds · Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:04 am

Before ORD built the "new" C Concourse, there was a "Y" area at the end of the B/C international concourse where 2 747s could park, both using the R1 or R2 doors. Originally, CO used to park all their 747s (to DEN and LAX) at those gates, which was quite a hike from the ticket counter.

At first 1 aircraft used door 1R, and the second aircraft was tugged into the gate area and made a right turn so the L1 door could be used with both aircraft being sort of nose to nose. This took quite a bit of time and someone came up with the new scheme, where that aircraft came straight in and used door 1R.

afcjets · Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:35 am

I remember once back in the late 1980s, a Piedmont 767 was parked at B1 in CLT and the jetway was connected at 1R. I am not even sure why it was there, but it was during the afternoon on a weekday and I believe it was in 1987 or 1988 so it may have been it's initial flight into CLT from Boeing for all I know and a way for the pilots and other staff who went to pick it up deplane. Piedmont had just inherited most of B from EA within the last year or so, so B was under utilized then. When all of concourse B belonged to EA a few years earlier, they always had the B1 jetway turned all the way to the right side facing straight out towards the main terminal driveway, and it was used for their commuter affiliate Atlantis, and they never used it for a jet, so I am not sure why they even bought a jetway for it back then. I have never seen B1 or any CLT gate for that matter have a jetway positioned for 1R boarding. Actually I had never seen 1R boarding in my life before in person that I can recall or ever again and that is why it struck me as as really odd that day.

At the time I saw this 767 Piedmont only regularly used gates C2, C4, and C6 for the 767 as concourse D was still a single level commuter boarding area and nothing like today. On a side note I thought it was strange how before D, Piedmont and later US only used C for the 767, and post D used B (but the outer part of B not the beginning of B like in this case) in addition to D in later years, but not C again, as far as I know. The last 767 two days ago departed from D13 but arrived back at B9 when that aircraft was used one last time as a last minute substitution for a 757 which had a mechanical.

[Edited 2015-02-14 20:52:45]

mjoelnir · Sun Feb 15, 2015 10:35 am

The advantage of right door boarding could be on an airport with the occasional big airplane. You use two stands at the same time and use the bridge for the left stand on the left door and the right stand on the right door. You have twice the size of passenger space in the pre boarding area, using the space for two gates and passengers are distributed according to seat numbers. The right bridge could be moved out of the way for restocking the galley as that is done after the passengers deplaned and before the next set of passengers boards. I think one or two stands at KEF would be able to use both airbridges with no frame in the stand on the right side of it using two stands to serve a big frame.
It will not be more efficient than the same number of airbridges on the left side.

N757ST · Sun Feb 15, 2015 12:38 pm

Jfk uses the right side doors on some hard stands at terminal 4. The worst is 2 hard stands require the rear right door to be used because of the location of lights at the stands.

Dalmd88 · Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:57 pm

Quoting antoniemey (Reply 28):
well, on a widebody with two aisles, you have the passengers sitting on the right side of the plane board through the right door and the passengers sitting on the left board through the left door. The middle section could board through either side.

Sure, people could do that, but they could never get it right. We are lucky that many can even find their proper gate. I really think the airport makes people lose their mind. Nobody seems to be able to find their way or follow simple directions once they enter airport property.

Some have mentioned the DC9/MD80 and 737 R1 being smaller. Same is true for the 757. Part of the problem even with widebodies is catering services. The R1 is the main door for many planes for catering. Two jet ways for a widebody makes more sense if it is the L1 and L2. That leaves the right side doors open for catering and it gets the jetway away from the cargo hold loading equipment. On the terminal side it makes more sense also. If a jetway is attached to both L1 and R1 the other end of the jetways would be very far apart in the gatehouse.

phatfarmlines · Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:09 pm

Quoting CALPSAFltSkeds (Reply 29):
Before ORD built the "new" C Concourse, there was a "Y" area at the end of the B/C international concourse where 2 747s could park, both using the R1 or R2 doors. Originally, CO used to park all their 747s (to DEN and LAX) at those gates, which was quite a hike from the ticket counter.

At first 1 aircraft used door 1R, and the second aircraft was tugged into the gate area and made a right turn so the L1 door could be used with both aircraft being sort of nose to nose. This took quite a bit of time and someone came up with the new scheme, where that aircraft came straight in and used door 1R.

CALPSAFltSkeds, are the gates where the NW DC-10 is parked are the gates you are describing?

ORD Old Int'l Concourse

There's another photo floating around showing a National 747 at Terminal 6 JFK using the R1 boarding door. Seems this was quite common in the 70's when airports where trying to accomodate the "widebody rush" at terminals not quite designed for widebodies.

garpd · Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:15 pm

I've boarded a Thomas Cook B752 from R1 before. Granted it was with my Gran in a wheel chair and they drove the wheel chair truck access up to R1.

jfklganyc · Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:22 pm

This topic comes up a lot and there have been several threads and pics.

The two most famous and used gates for R1 boarding were TWA Terminal 5 and TWA Terminal 6 at JFK. (Then TWA Terminals A and B) I believe T6 was Gate 11. T5 was the inner most gate on Flight Wing One (the 747 wing) closest to the window

xero9 · Sun Feb 15, 2015 6:22 pm

Quoting Boeing778X (Reply 4):

This will blow your mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxd5d7iFRBM#t=60

global2 · Sun Feb 15, 2015 6:32 pm

Quoting xero9 (Reply 37):
This will blow your mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxd5d7iFRBM#t=60

I wonder if they've calculated how much time is saved boarding/de-boarding using two jetbridges, and therefore how much faster a turnaround is, how much more flying time can be gained, etc. Of course, all that has to be weighed against the additional cost of having additional staff to operate the 2nd jetbridge. Regardless, from a passenger's point of view this must be perceived as a huge improvement!

EIDL · Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:15 pm

Quoting hoons90 (Reply 5):
I once boarded a KLM 747-400 through door L4 at AMS. It was one of the gates at the F pier.

I've boarded an M11 via the rear door at AMS also. I seem to remember it was a split bridge with J class boarding through the front door.

mozart · Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:52 pm

When Lufthansa still flew 744s to MUC they used two adjacent gates to board from left and right. That was when LH was still at T1, those flights left from T1-B

xero9 · Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:15 pm

Quoting global2 (Reply 38):
I wonder if they've calculated how much time is saved boarding/de-boarding using two jetbridges, and therefore how much faster a turnaround is, how much more flying time can be gained, etc. Of course, all that has to be weighed against the additional cost of having additional staff to operate the 2nd jetbridge. Regardless, from a passenger's point of view this must be perceived as a huge improvement!

I'm not sure, but all I could think of was any gains would instantly vanish if they didn't move the rear jetway away properly and somehow damaged the wing. Not only do they need to disembark the aircraft, but then it would be out of service for however long.

It seems nifty in theory, but I feel like it would just add more time/confusion in reality. Especially on a 737.

cokepopper · Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:23 pm

We used 1R several years (possibly over 10 lol) out of DUB on a DL 763
As a crew member this was a first for me and haven't seen it since.

calpsafltskeds · Mon Feb 16, 2015 12:57 am

Quoting phatfarmlines (Reply 34):

Quoting CALPSAFltSkeds (Reply 29):
Before ORD built the "new" C Concourse, there was a "Y" area at the end of the B/C international concourse where 2 747s could park, both using the R1 or R2 doors. Originally, CO used to park all their 747s (to DEN and LAX) at those gates, which was quite a hike from the ticket counter.

At first 1 aircraft used door 1R, and the second aircraft was tugged into the gate area and made a right turn so the L1 door could be used with both aircraft being sort of nose to nose. This took quite a bit of time and someone came up with the new scheme, where that aircraft came straight in and used door 1R.

CALPSAFltSkeds, are the gates where the NW DC-10 is parked are the gates you are describing?

ORD Old Int'l Concourse

There's another photo floating around showing a National 747 at Terminal 6 JFK using the R1 boarding door. Seems this was quite common in the 70's when airports where trying to accommodate the "widebody rush" at terminals not quite designed for widebodies.

That is exactly it. Thanks for the photo! NW did park some widebodies over there, usually 747s. I worked at CO Contract Services and we handled more than half of the international flights at ORD. This must have been taken prior to 2pm as during the afternoon, most gates on either side of that concourse were filled with groundloaded international widebodies. Condor used to do FRA turns and ORD was a fuel stop for FRA-ORD-LAX flights. Clearing 478 people through customs at 10pm on the westbound was a chore. One summer day a NW 747 was parked on the unoccupied gate and eventually the brakes and chocks broke loose during a thunderstorm and the aircraft made an unoccupied right turn until the wing was damaged by the jetway - after a couple days, it was ferried to MSP.

PHX787 · Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:58 am

I've seen the R1 door being used once with NH. It was an 8PM flight to ITM from HND. They had 3 jetways attached to the 777-300 (the one configed to around 400 seats, IIRC)

varsity · Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:15 pm

I dimly recall deplaning a WO DC-10 at LAX via 4R but that was also to airstairs.

TVNWZ · Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:52 pm

Quoting ramprat74 (Reply 20):

That just jogged lots of memories! Boarded this way many times going PHXSTL. Those L1011's were always a welcome site at PHX.

longhauler · Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:11 pm

Early in B747 operations, AC used to use both the L1 and R1 door at YVR. Seat assignments (as per the day) were using stickers from a 6 foot high chart behind the agents at the gate. The seat number on your sticker was round on the left side of the aircraft and square on the right. That corresponded to the gate exit to the aircraft. Most passengers got it right, but not all.

The L1011 had the same round/square seat number graphics on the seat chart, but as far as I know, it was never boarded that way. R1 would have you boarding through the First Class galley, and I remember someone telling me the gate could not reach door R2.

tonystan · Mon Feb 16, 2015 4:36 pm

SNN many moons ago used to have a jetty which would attach to R1 on a the EI B747 flights. I remember using it in 1986 travelling to JFK.

I never saw it in use again however I do remember it still being in situ through the 90s. But last time i was there i failed to see it.

Viscount724 · Mon Feb 16, 2015 4:46 pm

Quoting longhauler (Reply 47):
Early in B747 operations, AC used to use both the L1 and R1 door at YVR.

I think AC had two gates like that. Wasn't one side used for F class and the other side for Y? I expect the L-1011 also used those gates.

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