in fact, the on-time stats for both AT and Charter are within a % of each other at around 58%"
Well statistics can show what ever you want. But this operation isn't what the trade would call a "normal operation" When the 747 crew and aircraft are set to go (fuelled up . . . pax ready to board . . . flt plan in etc etc ) but the customer then says they want them to wait for a piece of "important freight" that needs to be on board then the charter has to obviously wait. The 2 hr delay goes down (on stats) as a late departure . . . but what control did the charter have on this ?
None at all, of course. The charter endeavours to be as flexible as possible to accomodate the customer's needs. Freight pallets wrong size ? Well let's just knock them down, rebuild a little and accept the delay. A senior officer late en-route ? ( maybe for a very plausible reason ) . . . . well just hold the flt and forget that the charter's en-time departure stats will suffer.
You can bat as much blame as you want towards the charter but the fact is that 99% of the time the 747 charter is there and ready to go . . . but the customer himself delays the departure. Sometimes for the reasons above . . . sometimes for an incorrect loading. How come ASI and MPA always give a load well within the c of g envelope but Brize often don't ? Have a look back and see how many times the Brize loadsheet is out and the load has to be re-adjusted ? Obviously not intentional of course . . . but check the facts and you'll see it has happened. MPA have a MS XL spreadsheet programme that ensures a good load EVERY time . . . . how come Brize don't use it ?
Look at where the delays stem from. Delays at ASI are rare. Delays into MPA are normally down to weather ( x-winds) and so are out of everybody's hands . . . the high % of the customer delays are out of Brize.
So when you read stats about late departures then read them in the same way that the government assure us that we're all paying less tax and the NHS is working. Stats might say this but the man in the street knows it's a load of cock.
If we load the 747 on time and within the envelope ( and our VIP pax are positioned at Brize according to schedule ) then our charter will meet our scheduled time of departure and the airbridge will run on time. When we don't then he will run late . . . but don't let's just chalk this up as a 58% on / off time for the stats; best we look and see what part we ( ie RAF Brize ) are playing in this.
You can change the charter as much as you want but if you don't address the real cause of the delays (and 58% shouldn't be acceptable) then we'll never sort the problem out. There's a lot we can do to improve these "stats" . . . if only we admit we have a part to play.
All the best for 2007
