Boarding Ramps at Bellingham Airport, Washington State

[Justin L]

I was at Bellingham Airport (IATA: BLI) - an Avalon style airport in Washington State, USA recently and used boarding ramps for the first time to disembark and board the plane I was on (Allegiant Air MD80).

As it was the first time I had seen such a boarding ramp I'd thought I'd share. I suppose it makes sense and is more cost effective for a small airport like BLI and LCC such as Allegiant to have one piece of equipment they can use all the time in all situations (including boarding passengers who require a wheel chair), rather than two sets of equipment (standard stairs and wheelchair boarding equipment) where one set may only be seldom used.

[Bernie P]

Great initiative, but I wonder if that ramp would meet Standards for its gradiant?

[Adrian B]

Great idea, but judging by the photo, I think it would be too steep, If I can find the stats I will post.

[Skip Fulton]

My understanding is disability standards are applicable if you require the guest/passenger to operate the wheelchair themselves up/down a ramp (Australian standard has changed from 1 in 8m to 1 in 10m). In this instance, they would still be pushed by a staff member and thus the gradient wouldn't apply (similar to aerobridges).

These boarding ramps are very popular at smaller airports in the US. Depending on the design, they can be adjusted to suit a variety of aircraft types ranging from Dash 8s, Embraers and up to 737/A2320. The efficiencies they can provide in terms of reduced GSE and avoiding the need for a DPL is tremendous.