Bob, They do add weight and also some engineering complexity but, from what I've read over the years about this, I gather this trade off has been calculated bt Ryanair and considered worthwhile. I'd go further to suggest that if there is only one airline boss on the planet who can actually apply such maths successfully then it's almost certainly Michael O'Leary.Another trade off in cost is the regularity a set of air stairs gets driven into the fuselage by some numpty driver causing significant damage. Furthermore, whilst I have expressed considerable doubts about the efficacy of the cases some put forward about calculating every second of flight and turnaround time, many airlines do put a lot of serious thought and effort into shaving single minutes off their turnarounds so there must be something in it.Simon -------- Original message --------From: "Robert S. Distler via Mifnet" <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com> Date: 08/09/2025 22:51 (GMT+00:00) To: mifnet@lists.mifnet.com Cc: "Robert S. Distler" <r...@rsd.aero> Subject: [Mifnet đź›° 74035] Re: Frontier move Simon, But integral airstairs add weight, i.e., fuel costs. One wonders whether Ryanair has done the math on the weight vs. simplicity trade-off, particularly since most other carriers didn’t have them, or even removed them from older 737 variants. Bob Distler   From: Simon Brown via Mifnet <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com> Sent: Monday, 08 September, 2025 14:18To: mifnet@lists.mifnet.comCc: 'Tom Ronell' <tron...@verizon.net>; srbr...@doctors.org.ukSubject: [Mifnet đź›° 74033] Re: Frontier move Where using such stairs  might fail is that the airline is still dependent on someone getting the mobile stairs to the aircraft as soon as it arrives. This might not happen in double quick time  as it depends on who owns and operates the stairs. (Just as in airbridges). The Ryanair model is that they pay to have integral airstairs fitted as an option in most of their 737s, so the crew and ground handling agents always know the stairs will be there. This total autonomy is what saves the time. I don’t think many airlines have integral stairs fitted to Airbus aircraft. I believe there is an option for this (probably driven by the corporate jet variants) but I’ve never seen one on an Airbus. I’ve seen and used Ryanair’s integral stairs many times though. Simon From: Tom Ronell via Mifnet <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com> Sent: 08 September 2025 20:21To: Karl L. Swartz via Mifnet <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com>Cc: Tom Ronell <tron...@verizon.net>Subject: [Mifnet đź›° 74026] Re: Frontier move No push back. Pax waiting on a bus at the hard stand for aircraft, rather than vice versa, for starters. From: Karl L. Swartz via Mifnet <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com>To: Mifnet <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com>CC: Karl L. Swartz <k...@kls2.com>Date: 2025-09-08T19:15:59ZSubject: [Mifnet đź›° 74025] Re: Frontier moveHow is that contraption any more efficient for fast turns than a jet bridge?   -- Karl  On Sep 8, 2025, at 11:03 AM, Doug Church via Mifnet <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com> wrote:  My wife and I had the ... ahem ... pleasure of flying with Frontier last February (BWI-DEN-PHX) and were thrilled (not) to be able to board the aircraft outside and breathe in the cool Rocky Mountain air, with a touch of Jet A, in sub-zero wind chills during a snowstorm. Attached is what the stairs looked like. I didn't do my homework before the flight and was in for quite the surprise when there was no jet bridge at Denver.  -Doug Church  On Mon, Sep 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM Jack Keady via Mifnet <mifnet@lists.mifnet.com> wrote: keady - do all their aircraft have integral stairs?  Frontier Airlines tells passengers: Forget jet bridges - board outside in the snow  Frontier Airlines raised eyebrows three years ago when they said they didn’t want to use jet bridges anymore at their home base in Denver. Now they say they want to move “as close to 100% ground loading as possible” across all of their airports over the next few years, calling jet bridges “the kiss of death” for fast turns. Denver opened a new A-East facility with 14 aircraft positions purpose-built with Frontier that fully opened a year ago. They were already operating out of Austin’s South Terminal, which doesn’t have jetbridges. Gary Leff/View From the Wing Â
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revised: 20250507
You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't exactly cost-free. If you'd care to make a small contribution to the effort, please know that it would be greatly appreciated: https://wardell.us/url/mifbit All posts sent to the list should abide by these policies: 1) List members acknowledge that participation in Mifnet is a privilege--not a right. 2) Posts are always off the record, absent specific permission from the author. 3) The tone of discussions is collegial. 4) Posts are expected to be in reasonably good taste. 5) We discuss ideas and not personalities, and we don't speak ill of other Mifnet members. * The Mifnet WEB SITE is: https://www.mifnet.com/ * To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list at any time please visit: https://lists.mifnet.com/ OR: SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: mifnet-requ...@lists.mifnet.com?subject=leave * Send Mifnet mailing list POSTS/SUBMISSIONS to: mifnet@lists.mifnet.com * You may reach the person managing The Mifnet at: mifnet-ow...@lists.mifnet.com * Please consider the DIGEST version of The Mifnet, which consolidates all list traffic into 1-3 messages daily. See instructions at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * Manage your personal Mifnet SUBSCRIPTION at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * For a list of all available Mifnet commands, SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: mifnet-requ...@lists.mifnet.com?subject=help * View The Mifnet LIST POLICIES and PRIVACY POLICY at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/policies * View instructions for Mifnet DELIVERY PROBLEMS at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/delivery-problems * View The Mifnet LIST ARCHIVE at: https://lists.mifnet.com/hyperkitty/list/mifnet@lists.mifnet.com/
