Qantas International Punctuality

[Don Esson]

There was and still is some media dissussion about on-time performance and wew see that Virgin are advertising how they are purported to be going. Qantas on the other hand are being quite circumspect on the issue and it's not hard to see why when you see how their International departures performed ex YSSY over the week-end! There could be good reason forthe poor performance as I've not yet had the chance to make any enquiries. I bet the customers were unimpressed.

On Saturday, they had 27 International departures of which just one departed on time. Pretty good, eh? Of the remaining, all were delayed by between one minute and 4 hours 39 minutes. Four departures were more than one hour late. Sunday was marginally better. Again they had 27 departures. Something good happened as three departed early by periods of up to 3 minutes! None of the others departed on-time and all were delayed by between 4 minutes and 3 hours 45 minutes.

Instead of reinventing the wheel with Jetstar, shouldn't Qantas Management be focussed on rectifying all that is wrong with the current airline? Or is the agenda now becomong more apparent?



:hmm:

[Cap10 Caveman]

Don,

You state that the remaining were delayed from 1 min to 4 hrs and 39 mins, don't forget that VB count on time as anywhere up to 14 min and 59 sec of the scheduled departure time. Bearing this in mind, how does their OTP look now?

CC

[bonvol]

Yeah, its not too flash at the moment.

We all know that the wx in Europe this time of year is not too flash at the best of times but QF in their wisdom have scheduled a 50 minute change at Changi for the CDG-SYD pax with the change to terminal 2A at CDG.

To say its a fiasco is being kind, not to mention the expense when the pax have to be accommodated in Singapore hotels when they miss the conx.

All the pilots knew it would be a cockup but what can u do. No one listens to us.

[Southern handler]

yeah but domestic has improved substantially over last few months

[ftrplt]

International versus domestic punctuality is apples v oranges

- waiting for domestic connections, will wait a period if its the only flight that day; domestic departures often dont wait for intl connections to number of available flights

- fast flight plans, often planned to arrive up to 30mins early, can therefore accept small delays for pax etc and still arrive early

- have been ready to go early or on time on many occasions only to wait at gate for acft next door to push, start and taxi (similar problem with QF domestic layout, not as big a drama for Virgin with more open layout)

[clearone]

Can someone clarify OTP`s on how its used.

Is it up to the individual carrier to determine on how the stats are calculated.

VB uses 0-14mins as an OTP.

I am lead to believe this IATA standard.

Does Qf use the same or do they use OTP`s as just that ,on time with no buffer?

[flyby_kiwi]

What are the factors causing the late arrivals that do not affect other airlines to the same extent? Is is a case of trying to turn the a/c around in too short a time?

When I was working on the ground at Auckland Int'll I would knock of work at 2am or whenever the last flight had passed through - Unfortunaty It was always QF39 out of Melbourne and Im sure it must have been months and months that it was constantly late by at least 20mins then one day I read in the paper that QF was having dep. time problems.

The case above could not have been due to Melb ATC or Wx. etc as an Air NZ flight arrived from Melbourne only an hour earlier - usually on time :confused:

[twiggs]

It is unavoidable that international flights are delayed upline due to late inbound aircraft, but this also happens to originating flights in SYD.
This seems to indicate that resources are being stretched to maximum leaving nothing to cover these circumstances.
Eg QF5 sat 6 dec delayed from 1700 to 2100 due to operating aircraft delayed ex CDG.
Now this delay occured 24 hours prior but still another aircraft was unable to be found to cover this flight.

[ftrplt]

twiggs,

are the ex-Malaysian 400's back on line yet??

doesnt help when a tug cleans up an engine on a 400 either

[topend3]

i still think you will find virgins otp ****s all over qantas, even when you take the 14 mins thing into account, its all about culture, virgin staff have an on-time culture, its a challenge to turn aircraft around on time, we have done full 737 turnarounds with 5 guys in around 25 mins from on to off blocks...

[clearone]

TE

Wot took your time..I wouldnt skite about 25mins for a quick T/A

[topend3]

exactly my point, we hadn't even broken into a sweat, the qf guys would have collapsed from shock if they even thought about working that quick;) ;)

[Capt Claret]

I don't agree that QF doesn't have an on-time culture! Certainly seems to be there from where I sit.

[Keg]

topend, pride in your company is one thing, telling yourself what you want to believe about another company is a crock. You may think you guys are 'aces' but why don't we compare how it all fits together with your regional and international ops? Oh, thats right, you guys don't have those do you!

Your comments are like trying to compare penis size. May make you feel good if you reckon yours is bigger but gives you absolutely no clue as to whether the other bloke uses it the same way as you do! For all you know, he may get a better result than you. :rolleyes:

[clearone]

we hadn't even broken into a sweat

So you admit you werent even trying,is this the culture!!!,try getting into a sweat you might be surprised ,maybe you can achieve 10-15mins T/A:hmm:

[topend3]

yeah ok, ok....

Hey Keg,

we are about to start our international ops, and i am sure that virgin will be just as happy with our performance on that one too, and btw i don't work for virgin mate! i just work for the contractor!

[Southern handler]

topend3,

from personal experience a lot of the time the contractor seems to provide better results than airline staff (especially at smaller ports). We do have some problems at QF with a minority of staff ground and air, but on the whole staff are pretty good. the fat remains that virgin have a very "simple" network and as such less to worry about. its easier doing a "recovery turn around" at a small port with less flights.