No respite from flight cancellations as Qantas trials new boarding
Qantas is trying to address woeful on-time performance by changing the way it boards planes, after the latest official statistics showed Australia’s dominant airlines remain sharply below their pre-pandemic discipline.
Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines achieved an on-time rate of 69 per cent in June, while they took off 70.3 per cent of the time, the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics said. Around 74 per cent of flights departed and arrived on time this May.
Qantas will board planes from both doors, starting in the middle and working its way back. Patrick Durkin
On Friday, Qantas said it would begin customer trials of new boarding procedures beginning next week, aimed at reducing queues and getting passengers seated quicker. The airline will board domestic flights in four sections using two doors (at the front and the rear), from the middle of the plane to the back.
Qantas chief operating officer Colin Hughes said the changes would make boarding smoother and quicker for customers, and underlining that the latest statistics demonstrated the airline is getting better.
“We know cancellations and delays are frustrating, and there will always be things that are out of our control like windy days and runway restrictions. But these results show we’re getting back to our best, and we’re looking to be even better,” Mr Hughes said.
And as airports call for tougher monitoring and penalties for airlines that scupper flights but hoard their slots, cancellation rates remained at 3.6 per cent, nearly double the long-term average.
“The rate of cancellations was higher than the long-term average of 2.1 per cent,” BITRE said in its release.
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