All Together. On Time.
ARLINGTON (theHub.com) - Today, US Airways took another step in our efforts to improve operations. Our new on-time initiative, which was outlined in a recent letter to employees from President and CEO Bruce Lakefield, was officially launched under our new theme: "Never underestimate the power of US," underscoring our ability to jointly overcome the obstacles facing us.
For starters, we are focusing on restoring our status as the nation's number one on-time airline, building on those practices that raised us to number one in Department of Transportation rankings for cumulative on-time arrivals as recently as November 2004. This effort -- which has the new slogan "All Together. On Time." -- is already beginning to produce results. In April, for instance, the percentage of on-time departures improved by 17 percent as compared to March.
Closing the aircraft doors five minutes prior to departure is one of the key practices reinforced in this initiative. Another important component is "Right Start," a program designed to get the morning's first flights out on time.
"Our primary focus is to get our flights off the gate and in the air on time each morning," said Lakefield in his employee letter. "Falling behind in the morning has a ripple effect on operations throughout the day. As we increase aircraft utilization, we have less flexibility in our system, less chance to catch up. So it is critical to get off to a good start each day." Several teams of employees from Customer Service, Express, Flight Operations, Inflight and Maintenance are implementing new best practices with their respective teams.
For example, preparation for departure actually begins five minutes before the aircraft's arrival. Flight attendants tidy up aircraft, and boarding bridges are in place well before the aircraft's arrival at the gate.
The goal is to make sure that all of the work involved in an on-time departure is completed during the shortened aircraft turn time. The captain acts as Departure Coordinator, making sure the station is aware of any issues that could cause a delay.
When these tasks are performed all together, on time, "we increase our on-time performance, customers are happier, bags arrive on time and fewer people misconnect," Executive Vice President of Operations Al Crellin said. "It's a matter of getting back to basics."
Regards,
USA320Pilot
ARLINGTON (theHub.com) - Today, US Airways took another step in our efforts to improve operations. Our new on-time initiative, which was outlined in a recent letter to employees from President and CEO Bruce Lakefield, was officially launched under our new theme: "Never underestimate the power of US," underscoring our ability to jointly overcome the obstacles facing us.
For starters, we are focusing on restoring our status as the nation's number one on-time airline, building on those practices that raised us to number one in Department of Transportation rankings for cumulative on-time arrivals as recently as November 2004. This effort -- which has the new slogan "All Together. On Time." -- is already beginning to produce results. In April, for instance, the percentage of on-time departures improved by 17 percent as compared to March.
Closing the aircraft doors five minutes prior to departure is one of the key practices reinforced in this initiative. Another important component is "Right Start," a program designed to get the morning's first flights out on time.
"Our primary focus is to get our flights off the gate and in the air on time each morning," said Lakefield in his employee letter. "Falling behind in the morning has a ripple effect on operations throughout the day. As we increase aircraft utilization, we have less flexibility in our system, less chance to catch up. So it is critical to get off to a good start each day." Several teams of employees from Customer Service, Express, Flight Operations, Inflight and Maintenance are implementing new best practices with their respective teams.
For example, preparation for departure actually begins five minutes before the aircraft's arrival. Flight attendants tidy up aircraft, and boarding bridges are in place well before the aircraft's arrival at the gate.
The goal is to make sure that all of the work involved in an on-time departure is completed during the shortened aircraft turn time. The captain acts as Departure Coordinator, making sure the station is aware of any issues that could cause a delay.
When these tasks are performed all together, on time, "we increase our on-time performance, customers are happier, bags arrive on time and fewer people misconnect," Executive Vice President of Operations Al Crellin said. "It's a matter of getting back to basics."
Regards,
USA320Pilot
