Flying in Europe, it is about a 50/50 chance as to whether you get on the plane from a jet bridge or you take a bus to the plane parked on the tarmac. In contrast, most US airports have jet bridges, even when the plane is small unless it is a very small airport.
Why?
Buses between terminals is a lot more common and I’ve even seen buses acting as airplanes in the USA.
I can see some US airports using bussing, but it feels like the practice is far more commonplace in the EU than the US. It is also odd given than EU airports appear to be newer on average to US airports.
Them Duke boys are at it again
I love that reference :)
I’ve heard of buses acting as trains (rail replacement service) but imagine being told your airplane is cancelled and you’ll get a replacement bus service
It is used a lot in Philadelphia to connect to small regional airports. American Airlines gets credit for serving the smaller airports without needing to dedicate planes and pilots to the route.