A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Workload; Communication Breakdown; Distraction; Time Pressure
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Security; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Company Policy; Procedure; Human Factors; Aircraft
Boarding process in ZZZ. The issue started with the gate having me and the First Officer loaded onto a bus with passengers to head out to the aircraft at the hard stand.When I mentioned to the gate this is a potential problem with us getting to the aircraft at the same time as the passengers for a multitude of reasons; the gate supervisor agreed to put me and the First Officer on a separate van. One thing that seemed odd was when we looked at monitor to originally see what gate we were at the monitor showed a new departure time of XY+12 now beside the original time of XY+10 for some reason. No one said anything to us so we headed out to the gate.Upon showing up at [hardstand] there was no airplane. We ended up waiting 10-15 minutes for aircraft (tail) to be tugged over. Meanwhile we radioed back to the gate and informed them not to send the passengers out to the hard stand because there was no aircraft to board.Once the airplane showed up the air stairs had to be manually pushed up to the aircraft because the motor that was supposed to move the air stairs had evidently been inop for multiple days.When we got onto the aircraft maintenance was in the process of testing batteries that had just been replaced. The test had approximately 25-minutes remaining so again we radioed back and asked for passengers to be held at the gate until maintenance was finished their tests.No more then 10-minutes after the request to keep the passengers at the gate was made buses with the passengers showed up at [hardstand]. We had now told ops multiple times we were not ready to board but that didn't seem to sink in. It sets a disturbing trend when the Captain makes a decision based on safety and has a full understanding of the issue and then it's ignored and the passengers get sent out to the aircraft anyway.The buses held the passengers onboard near the aircraft for a number of minutes then the bus doors opened and the passengers started walking across the ramp towards the aircraft to board. I held off boarding because aircraft wasn't safe to board. Our maintenance issue was with the emergency lights in the cabin on the aircraft and our maintenance team was in the process of testing the batteries that supply power to the emergency lights and exit signs.So now we have an aircraft that is not safe to board on a hardstand but with approximately 140-passengers on the ramp standing outside the aircraft. Meanwhile maintenance tests onboard still have a significant amount of time left to run.I went down to the ramp and spoke with all the passengers directly and apologized for what could only be described as a mess. I informed them that we were hoping the test maintenance was preforming would pass and we could board in the next several minutes if all went well.The test ultimately failed or did not complete properly and it ended with a battery overheat scenario. Now maintenance had to wait for the batteries to cool down before continuing. I had called ops and informed them that we might need the buses back if the test failed and after it did fail we ordered the buses to come back and take the passengers to the gate and off the ramp where they'd been standing for 20-30 minutes now. Once the buses were available I went down to the ramp talked with a supervisor and we helped get all the passengers back on the buses and to the terminal. Again; I spoke to the passengers and answered questions on the ramp as they headed back towards the buses about maintenance issue and that we would try to get it fixed and them down to ZZZ2 as soon as we could.After the passengers were back on the buses I went to each bus and got on the inter phone and explained over the loud speaker what was going on and apologized again for the unnecessary situation the passengers had been put in.I worked with maintenance onboard the aircraft continually and called the [Duty Officer] on duty. I called Dispatch and ZZZ3 CP XXXX to make sure we had everyone in the loop.Approximately 90-minutes later the batteries cooled. The maintenance tests all passed and the aircraft was cleared by maintenance to go back into service. We called ops and they sent the passengers back to the [hardstand] ramp to board the aircraft and we headed down to ZZZ1.Once everyone was onboard I stood at the front of the aircraft and talked to the guests one more time about the issue that had been resolved; the flight; introduced the crew and thanked them for their patience but what else can you say at that point it was an embarrassment.Approximately two hours and fifty minutes late we departed for ZZZ2 and had a normal flight.This whole scenario was completely avoidable but somehow happened anyway. Multiple communications about the situation not sending passengers out to the aircraft were just ignored.It seems that it's more important at (airline) to hit some mythical time metric that management has created then it is trusting the people they have hired to do their jobs. Making common sense decisions and using sound judgment is what you would normally do in a situation like this; but that all goes out the window with the fear driven micromanaged culture at (airline). Fellow coworkers are more worried about getting in trouble from management for not making a time metric they are ordered to follow then using compassion; common sense and looking out for the best interests (safety) of our passengers and our fellow coworkers. Especially in the case of [this flight].'Safety' of our guests and coworkers must be at the top of the list; but it's constantly cast aside so the ever present time metric can be made. All this does is creates stress for the frontline employees (specifically CSA's) and forces one set of problems down the line to the next coworker who passes it along again until we end up where we did with (flight) where 'Safety' was just getting eroded away.[Slogan removed] is a slogan that (airline) likes to use but it is far from what was applied in this situation to protect our passengers and fellow coworkers.A change in the parameters of hardstand boarding so it actually is [company slogan] vs we need to hit the time metric so I don't get in trouble.I have written the most senior people in Management about this issue before and nothing has changed. People on the front lines especially CSA's live in fear of getting in trouble so they try move faster than they should and it creates issues and ultimately affects safety. It happens constantly and it needs to be addressed. Safety doesn't mean cutting corners to go faster but that's what I continually see because staff is under so much time constraint pressure. All (airline) employees need to be given more leeway to do their job effectively and not be pressured by time constraints or management intimidation for slowing things down so they get the job done properly and safely.We all know what time the flight is supposed to leave. We all want to deliver the best and safest experience for our guests. Right now people are looking through a straw and focusing on time constraints instead of what makes common sense and what is safest and taking care of the guests that fly (airline).The lines of communication between work groups has to be strengthened so we can avoid situations like (flight). Management likes to claim everyone can stop the operation at any time. Well I don't know many employees who believe that they could without having to face the music from management.Everyone realizes the hardstand is a change from normal gate operations for the CSA; crew; ramp personnel and passengers so all of this has to be factored in and if it takes more time but it's safe so be it.On a side note; our maintenance team onboard working the issue were fantastic and they need to be commended.
No additional information was provided.
Captain reported multiple safety and security issues during an ongoing maintenance delay with passengers on the ramp area waiting for the aircraft.