EvanWSFO wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

EvanWSFO wrote:

But AC didn't start flying the 747 until 1971, and it probably wasn't until winter 71-72 before they flew them to TPA. New terminal was open by then.

I was merely pointing out AC flew the 747 to TPA. I have a 1970 TT that shows this route was indeed flown.

I forgot to add this link earlier:
http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/article ... vel/page:3

That's where I got 1971 start....so IDK


I don't recall seeing any AC 747s @ TPA back in the late 1970s...but granted, YES...I could have missed them I do remember them in the 80s as an adult, when I could drive myself to the airport

EvanWSFO wrote:

I doubt TYS had jetbridges for widebodies in 1982 when DL was flying 2x daily L10s for the World's Fair

I thought of that too but found a pic on flickr from 1980 which shows jetways and Wikipedia says their passenger terminal opened in 1974. During the WF I thought every flight ATL-TYS on DL was the L10. Even afterwards DL continued to fly one daily L10 roundtrip.

ATH Hellinikon (LGAT) never had any bridges until it was closed in 2001.

I remember doing a 1990's GRU-ATH in a TAP L-1011 with stopovers in GIG, LIS and OPO.
Good times

Disembarked from a DC10-30 at DAC in 1984. DAC added bridges in 1992.
I think BA and Saudi used to fly 747s to Dhaka before 1992 and possibly also KLM for a short time.

AA flew the DC10 into PSP during the mid 70s before it had jetways.

At PEK, I boarded jumbo jets using stairs in both 1994 and 1997. If I recall correctly, it was standard practice to use stairs at PEK until 1999.

I just love when I have to board with stairs. Give me stairs anyday over a jet bridge. Especially on the 747 and boarding a long haul flight. Knowing this piece of metal is going to be airborne for 12+ hours over the Atlantic Ocean.

CYQX (Gander, Newfoundland, Canada) all passengers from several widebodies would have had to use stairs on 9/11 when 38 aircraft (not all widebodies) landed there. To this day still no jetbridges there.

afcjets wrote:

In 1974 DL also flew the L10 DAY-ATL. Based on this picture which seems to be from the 1970s, DAY did not have jetways. The jet on the left appears to be a UA 727-100, I can't tell what airline or type the other plane is though.



http://www.flydayton.com/wp-content/upl ... r-1990.jpg

In this picture, the third concourse, at right, was the Delta concourse at least during the 1980's, per the 1985 DAY map at departedflights.com. It had two floors and stubby early-model jetways, which are visible in the picture. The DAY history page doesn't say when it was completed, but the UA 721 is in Bass colors, so at least 1974. That concourse has since been demolished.

Jim

afcjets wrote:

EvanWSFO wrote:

I doubt TYS had jetbridges for widebodies in 1982 when DL was flying 2x daily L10s for the World's Fair

I thought of that too but found a pic on flickr from 1980 which shows jetways and Wikipedia says their passenger terminal opened in 1974. During the WF I thought every flight ATL-TYS on DL was the L10. Even afterwards DL continued to fly one daily L10 roundtrip.

I've got a TT indicating the L10 service. Without digging it out of 16 boxes, I think there were also a lot of DC8s on the route.

This is probably an out-of-left-field memory, but I recall that AA flew the DC-10 into Tucson in the early 70s. My father, an FBI agent, had to fly to Washington. Although he was flying alone, we were all able to board with him and say goodbye. We climbed the airstairs and I remember the interior to this day. The seats had various fabric colors in the blue to orange range. Some seats had a plaid fabric. I recall sitting in a window seat while my father organized himself. Someone else came along and said "You're in my seat." and I had to get out. I was beside myself that I could not fly with my dad on that spectacular plane.

I've been to PUJ on several occasions - the airport was open air and all the planes, including several 747s lined up next to the terminal and unloaded via airstairs. I believe the airport is constructing a new terminal that provides the jetways. It disappoints me as I love climbing the stairs to the plane.

727LOVER wrote:

EvanWSFO wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

But AC didn't start flying the 747 until 1971, and it probably wasn't until winter 71-72 before they flew them to TPA. New terminal was open by then.

I was merely pointing out AC flew the 747 to TPA. I have a 1970 TT that shows this route was indeed flown.

I forgot to add this link earlier:
http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/article ... vel/page:3

That's where I got 1971 start....so IDK


I don't recall seeing any AC 747s @ TPA back in the late 1970s...but granted, YES...I could have missed them I do remember them in the 80s as an adult, when I could drive myself to the airport

I'm pretty sure it was in the earlier 70's. I know I obtained a timetable from the motel back when a lot of them carried timetables. I was in my teens, so before 1975. IIRC, it was a YUL-YYZ-TPA routing. But I've lost a few brain cells, so I could have the dates wrong.

KLDC10 wrote:

Berlin Tegel (TXL) 2017! (Lufthansa 747-400)
And if you'd like to bring in other widebodies, I disembarked from an A340-600 by stairs there a month or two ago too.

Every Air Berlin A330 flight I took to/from TXL involved stairs. I think 7 flights in total.

DL flew both DC-10's and L10's to LGA, no jetways, in the 1970's. The D10's were leased from UA until the L10's were available.

PSP - AA had DC-10 service to PSP in the early 70s.
ONT - AA had DC-10 service briefly in/out of ONT in the 90s. This was prior to the opening of the new terminal.
LGA - National sometimes used stairs when boarding/deplaning DC-10s out of the concourse they shared with United, Bramiff, Ozark, etc. (1970s)
LGA - Prior to 1982, Delta had no jetbridge gates ad LGA, and operated DC-10s (early-to-mid 1970s) and L-1011s (early 1970s until 1982) in and out of their ground level gates at the concourse they shared with TWA. (TWA had jetbridges).
ACA - AA DC-10s used stairs for boarding and deplaning in the 1980s.
SDQ - Many wide bodies served this airport, including 747s; DC-10s and A300s operated by AA and Pan Am; L-1011s and A300s of Easfern; DC--10s and A300s belonging to Viasa; and who could forget the relics operated by Dominicana, including, briefly, a former AA 747-123.
Other notable airports in the Caribbean where I experienced ground-level boarding for wide-body equipment were SXM; POP; PAP; POS; ANU; AUA; CUR; KIN; MBJ; BGI.

ATH was notable in having heavy wide-body movements, all boarded and deplaned via stairs, up to the opening of fhe new airport in 2001.

I boarded a Lufthansa A300-600 at FRA via stairs in 1987.

In the 1980s and 1990s, I flew frequently to MAD, and experienced many remote operations on widebody flights with boarding and deplaning via stairs.

Eastern's terminal at JFK was not equipped with upper level gates. When Eastman added jetbridges, you had to climb a flight of stairs to access them.

The remote stands at Kai Tak springs to mind. Another airport would be General Santos (GES) which has received PR 747s in the past, and it still has no jetways to this day.

In the 70's and 80's, I lived in Indonesia and before CGK was built, all flights at JKT were boarded via stairs. Around 2003, I boarded an AF 747-400 via stairs at JNB on a remote stand. I am currently at TNR and all their flights are boarded via stairs as well. I flew in on an AF 777-300er. My seat was near the back of the plane so we deplaned via stairs at the L5 door. Passed through ACC on an SA-330 and stairs were used at a remote stand. Sometime around 1977, we flew via American Samoa on Pan Am on our way to Indonesia. We deplaned and had to use stairs. At one time AKL used stairs as well. My family boarded an Air New Zealand DC10 that way.

Although Hong Kong’s Kai Tak had air bridges, there weren’t many. I remember being bussed and boarded via stairs; an Alitalia DC-10-30, Cathay L-1011 and a Japan Airlines 747 (Garden Jet), CAAC 707, Japan Airlines DC-8 and a Cathay 747-200...Also; longer ago, I vaguely remember deplaning from a MSA 707.

TMccrury wrote:

At one time AKL used stairs as well. My family boarded an Air New Zealand DC10 that way.

AKL - did even International have bridges at all, before Ansett turned up to challenge ANZ? Certainly Domestic didn't.

Scrolling through the thread I don't see mention of PPT, which had lots of 747 traffic and hardly an enclosed terminal let alone bridges.

The old OSL Oslo Gardermoen airport did not have gates with air bridges at all. Passengers had to walk from the exit to the aircraft. SAS and Northwest Orient flew with B747's and DC-10's in the 80's and Scanair (charter arm of SAS at the time) used their A300's and DC-10's there well into the 90's. All boarded via long air stairs.

aahhh Fond memories!!!

Larger Greek island airports, such as RHO, have no bridges at all, not surprising in places where the traffic is very seasonal indeed. But they regularly see charter flights several times a week from Russia on 744s, and inevitably have to use stairs. Rossiya has most flights these days.

Someone mentioned LHR T5. All the gates in T5B and T5C can take 744s, it is T5A where all but the "corner" gates are pretty much narrow-body only, intended for short-haul flights. But gate utilisation is high, and it isn't unusual for an inbound flight whose intended gate is still blocked to park on a remote stand, unload using stairs, and take passengers by bus to the terminal, and that's apart from planes planned to come out of service for maintenance. They don't like towing planes at LHR, when it can be helped, as the slow speed only adds to the congestion, so if arrival is to remote stand, departure is likely to be also. There are dedicated bus gates in T5A, and some of the gates in T5B (certainly) and T5C (possibly) can be used for bus departures too.

The nearly new T2 has a similar principle - T2A is basically narrowbody, T2B is the one with the widebody gates.

SAN had no jetways until the late 1970’s - AA and UA DC-10’s and DL L-1011’s all used airstairs.

mozart wrote:

In 2018, outside the US, for wide body jets

London LHR
Amsterdam
Frankfurt
Paris CDG (seldom though)
Paris ORY
Berlin TXL
Milan MXP
Lisbon
Madrid
Vienna (seldom)
Jeddah
Dubai
Doha
Muscat
Istanbul
Casablanca
Auckland
Cologne

Geneva Switzerland until Autumn 2020. There are no jetbridges left for widebodies. 787, A350, A330, A340, 777, 767 all using stairs until Autumn 2020.

It's pretty common in many European resort airports. Take a quick look in the database and many airports in the Greek Islands, Spanish Costas, Turkey, Croatia, Canary Islands etc. would have either had no airbridges or saw such huge fluctuations in traffic that they had sufficient for the off-season but nowhere near enough for their peaks.

Also, Luton for many years had no airbridges and regularly saw wide body aircraft.



I've used remote gates on 747-300 in Hurghada, L -1011 in Rhodes and Alicante and whilst not one of the types the OP was talking about, 767-200 in Corfu.

Mark

I deplaned from a KL 744 combi using stairs at PVG in 2011. Can't for the life of me remember if it happened more often.

it Happens offen i DOH and in the old DOH all flights was that way

Preswick (PIK) in Scotland never had any air-bridges but a daily series of B747, L1011 and DC10s.

ro1960 wrote:

NCE didn't have airbridges until T2 opened (in the 80s?) so 747 (AF, UT, GN, UY), DC-10 (UT, RK), L1011 (BA) used stairs:


Now both T1 and T2 have airbridges. T1 can only accommodate up to the 777 while T2 can have up to the A380. However it's common to see an EB 747 or a J2 A346 use remote stands and stairs.

I forgot the A300 (AF, IT, LH, TU etc.)

I used to fly from Johannesburg in late '70s and '80s. No airbridges than.
DC-10s of SN, SR, KL, UT, AZ;
747-200s of SA, BA, SK LY(?), TP;
747SP SA, Luxavia;
L-1011-500 TP (I think before bridges).
A300 SA
I am sure there were more.

From my travels foggy memories, I can remember some of the numerous Caribbean airports which were still only using stairs in the 90's:
- SXM/TNCM
- LRM/MDLR
- SCU/MUCU
- PTP/TFFR
- FDF/TFFF
- CAY/SOCA
- ANU/TAPA
- SKB/TKPK
- PUJ/MDPC
- PAP/MTPP sometimes.
There must be some other ones too.

747d10 wrote:

I think I boarded a DL L1011 with airstairs at OGG back in the late 80's.

I want to say I did the same on a UA DC10.

Jeddah must be one of the largest (if not the first) airports in the world for stair usage in wide bodies.

No jetways until the new terminal was opened (a few days ago and only partially). Emirates has been flying regularly the A380 for about 10 years to JED (now multiple times a day), and there are tons of B747 flying there (if only for Hajj) and any other wide body on a daily basis (British, Lufthansa, Garuda, Malaysia, Philippine Airlines, Scott, RAM, Turkish... and of course all the Saudia fleet).

EvanWSFO wrote:

I doubt TYS had jetbridges for widebodies in 1982 when DL was flying 2x daily L10s for the World's Fair

Actually the old terminal (1974-2000) had a jetbridge capable for widebodies. It was gate 4. I still remember in the 90s occasionally seeing L10s parked at that gate.

sccutler wrote:

1986, Cancun, Q Roo (CUN/MMUN), had DC10 service, Mexicana from DFW and from PHL. No jetways (heck, not that much of a terminal).

Hard to believe, but you could tell when a plane arrived, because some buses would show up at the (very few) hotels, and you could tell if it was the Philly flight from all the Yankees wearing cut-offs and wife-beater shirts. They were very excited to escape winter, it appears.

My last flight on a DC-10 was a SY charter vacation flight into CZM, must have been early 2001. Definitely no jetbridges.

Not sure whether IAD in April 1980 had jetways, however I remember flying FCO CDG IAD and back on a TWA 707 and both ways we were shuttled from the terminal to the aircraft with a hydraulic bus, which collected passengers at the gate, then it lowered to the ground, reached the aircraft, and lifted up again to aircraft level to allow passengers to board the plane.

In Italy, Naples Capodichino (NAP) still doesn't have jetways and up until recently saw widebody service from Meridiana to JFK in the summer, I'm uncertain what other WB service flew their. Also, Lamezia Terme (SUF) sees a weekly Air Transat A330 from Toronto during the summer without any jetways.

747 at KHI around the late 80s, same at LHE

Evn at LHR it can happen that they de.board a BA 744 over stairs, for which there was 30 minutes waiting time

TYSflyer wrote:

EvanWSFO wrote:

I doubt TYS had jetbridges for widebodies in 1982 when DL was flying 2x daily L10s for the World's Fair

Actually the old terminal (1974-2000) had a jetbridge capable for widebodies. It was gate 4. I still remember in the 90s occasionally seeing L10s parked at that gate.

Cool, thanks!

Boarded an A330 this morning in HKG by stairs.

All Jeddah flights are stairs.

IIRC, Emirates used to be handled with stairs at TUN when they bring in the A340-500. Emirates A380 at CMN as well.

I've boarded widebodies via stairs in the following airports in Asia in the last 5 years (excluding Kai Tak):

Kai Tak (CX 743)
HKG (KA A330 / CX A330 / CX A340)
BKK (EK A380 / ET B767 / KQ B767 / TG 744 / TG A346)
DOH (ALL QR up to/including A350)
PVG (CX A340)
BOM (9W A330)
BLR (9W A330)

In my younger days; UTA DC-8 series 50 & 60, and DC10-30 in Fort Lamy, Tripoli and Bangui. Swissair DC-8 and a BA Super VC10 in Khartoum. We even had to climb into the VC10 rear baggage hold to look for our bag!

Qantas 747-200B in Kuala Lumpur, all using stairs.

Boarding via airstairs (narrow or wide body) is fairly common outside the US, whether the terminals are fitted with airbridges or not.

I remember boarding a Mexicana DC10 in Merida for a flight to Mexico City in 1981/2.

Before the current terminal was built, all flights into TLV were via stairs.

Air Canada 747 YVR

https://thenetletter.net/netletters/listid-1/mailid-49-the-netletter-1323

I remember flying J on a PanAm 747SP JFK to Hamburg in 1986. Nearly got blown off the airstairs after a very windy landing.

I once had to board a Lufthansa 747 at Frankfurt via the ground stairs and deplaned off a British Airways 747 at Heathrow and of course Martinique had no air bridges for the Air France 747 service, at least not in 1984!!

Don't know if mobile lounges count as opposed to jetways but due to its layout Mirabel likely also needed boarding stairs for 747s.

I boarded a LH A340 at WDH (Windhoek, Namibia) some years ago, and was there last year and it was stairs only.

The old ATH had no air bridges, so all boarding and deplaning was via stairs.

FCO and MXP both used stairs for widebodies back in 1990 when I flew through. I don't know what the situation is like today, but back then, most of AZs 742s at FCO were parked at remote stands. In fact, I only recall seeing foreign carriers parked at the air bridges at FCO (CP D10, TW L10 and 741, and PA 741).