Qantas pilots ordered not to minimise flight delays

Pilots at the Australian carrier have been told to save fuel by not flying faster.

Travel Insurance News - 15/08/2011

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Pilots at Qantas have been told they can no longer try to make up for delays on late-running flights because the airline wants to cut its expenditure on fuel. In a move that is unlikely to impress passengers, the Australian carrier has ordered pilots not to try and speed up if they are likely to miss the 15-minute window used to determine if a flight is on-time.

The strict policy has been introduced by the airline in a bid to reduce how much it is spending on fuel. It basically means that any flight already expected to land later than the 15 minutes’ delay allowed for flights to still be regarded as having operated on time is likely to be even later, because the pilots are not allowed to even try and make up a few minutes of lost time.

One pilot was reported to have said that pilots of flights already running late and not expected to land within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival times are not allowed to fly faster, which burns more fuel. Pilots interpret the rule as being based on an assumption that passengers who are already going to be 15 minutes late might as well be 60 minutes late.

The rules still allow pilots to fly faster, even when the flight is running late, if they are capable of touching down within the 15-minute window. This still counts as arriving on time but Qantas refutes claims its policy is based on this reason.

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