Saab 1073: The Little Jet That Could Have Revolutionized Passenger Boarding

In the late 1960s, Saab rethought the entire system of moving passengers onto and off of aircraft.

Jason McDowell

Tuesday, March 04, 2025 at 10:18 AM ET

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Edited By: Meg Scarbrough

The Saab 1073 concept would utilize a 747-style upper deck to house the cockpit. [Credit: Saab]

Key Takeaways:

Saab's 1073 airliner concept aimed to revolutionize inefficient passenger boarding and deplaning by significantly reducing aircraft turnaround times for short-haul flights.
The innovative design featured a hinged nose cone for rapid baggage stowage and main-deck passenger access, a cockpit on an upper deck, and self-backing capability.
This approach, especially when paired with custom terminal designs, projected an unprecedented five-minute total turnaround time, though the concept ultimately never went into production.

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The logistics of moving passengers onto and off of aircraft has seen comparatively little innovation since the early days of airline travel. Yes, there have been some developments in loading zones, dual jet bridges, and gate-checked baggage, but at the end of the day, we funnel scores of people into and out of a long tube in a very cumbersome, inefficient fashion.

In the late 1960s, however, Saab rethought the entire system and proposed an innovative solution in the form of the 80-87 passenger Saab 1073 short-range airliner.