Lucydog wrote:Thanks for the comments. I did not know the reason was the shute being in the way. Why do we only use one door to board now,We used to board side and back when we had smaller aircraft, but is was quicker. Can we not hook up to two doors for boarding, yes we would need another ramp, or could we not use stairs aswell. 
Down to a variety of reasons including the airport operators airbridge set up and the airlines own policy.
AMS is a classic example of an airport where they board their 744's via two airbridges, one that extends over the wing of the 744 (which is rather impressive). As seen here:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/KLM-Asia ... 8b211bdd92I think historically LHR and LGW have always only selected airbridges with one door to board an aircraft on. Other airports, in particular those that are newly built, have had the option of two airbridges docking onto the airport.
Boarding by the back stairs with an airbridge connected to the front does not happen very often, I would imagine this is down to some sort of health and safety issue.
Boarding by stairs front and back does still happen at some airports. SSH for example board 744s via three sets of stairs, doors L1 and L2 plus the back door.
One of the CC regulars on here will be able to provide more information but I would also imagine that VS internal regulations dont allow, currently, for boarding by two airbridges. I could be talking utter rubbish but I believe there has to be a certain number of crew on each entry door and at least one crew member on each closed door during boarding. Certainly that would be why on the 744 upstairs an extra crew member is there during boarding stood by the emergency exits.
Back on OT...