How to disembark during COVID: a bright idea for passengers

In response to preemptive passenger offboarding, smart Airbus engineers are introducing a solution to ensure an orderly and safe way to disembark, avoiding crowding of the aisles and keeping everyone onboard comfortable.

The solution is a novel lighting design based on simple traffic guiding principles: the scenario uses different cabin illumination combinations to indicate the rows which are designated to disembark next. The lighting scenarios complement the verbal cues given by the cabin crew to facilitate an orderly and rush-free departure from the plane.

So, how does this solution work in practice? Lighting designers and software engineers programmed scenarios enabling one colour or a combination of colours at a time to be spaced out in a certain way and in a certain direction: front to back, or back to front.

The colour schemes can be adapted to each airline, whether it is based on the combination of colours which works best for the region or country, or the airline's brand.