US among carriers trimming block times

[Dont call me Shirley]

http://www.pewforum.org/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx


....US Airways Group

Inc.​

LCC +4.26%​

has reduced its "block times"—the time it takes to get from gate to gate—with a major push to have planes depart precisely at the scheduled time,...​

....​

You can do all sorts of things to make up for poor performance," said Robert Isom, chief operating officer at US Airways, referring to padded schedules. "But you sacrifice efficiency, the passenger experience, the employee experience and profits."...​

 

[UPNAWAY]

Interesting we did a big block squeeze a few years ago, after the initial stretch of block Isom did when he first got here.

 

[Hope777]

USAirways loses REVENUE Everyday because of Block Times ! A prime example is the EWR-PHX market. The US Postal service awards contracts (mail) based on arrival times. USAirways Departs EWR earlier than Every Airline flying to PHX, but because US shows an arrival time 15 minutes Later ( the aircraft normally sits waiting for a gate 30-45 mins daily ) the mail (3000lbs daily avg) is awarded to UA.

 

[FWAAA]

Padded block times cost money. Lots and lots of money. When fuel is expensive and employees are asking for raises, airlines will have to re-evaluate whether they can afford to pad their block times just to gain better on-time numbers.

 

[signals]

I once heard that airlines were actually increasing arrival and departure times to make up for unforeseen events. In other words if the total gate2gate flight was 3 hours, it may suddenly be 3.5 hours, for example. Just a rumor, I'll bet.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Just a rumor, I'll bet.

Actually true, although a 30 minute increase wasn't normal - more like a few minutes. Most flights that are "late" per DOT rules are only a few minutes over 14 minutes late, so increasing block times by a few minutes make a big difference on O/T arrivals by the DOT definition. What hasn't changed is the push for early departures - not "precisely at scheduled departure" as the article imples but 5-10 minutes early which effectively adds that 5-10 minutes to scheduled block time. In other words, another form of padding.

Jim

 

[john john]

The ones(management) allowing padded block times wreak the benefits (bonus)