VS (lack of) Punctuality?

With amazingly good timing and to back up Alan's comments about crew cutting things a bit fine....

I'm sitting in the JFK clubhouse at the moment waiting on VS46. They have just announced over the speakers that VS4 will be delayed (initially only for 40 minutes) because the crew are stuck in traffic getting to the airport. Now I ask you - it's the evening before Thanksgiving here in the US, it's raining - which is no surprise as it has been forecast for days, why didn't they leave earlier - it always looks bad when the passengers can make it on time and the crew can't

Phil (Buffy)

This thought comes from a "outside" view...

And I do not know all the UK carriers.

But, how many of those at the top of the chart are regional, smaller aircraft?

It would seem to me that comparing VS, that operates long international routes, and large aircraft to a regional that operates shorter routes, and smaller aircraft is not accurate.

Again... this is from the "outside", but does it not take longer to prepare a larger aircraft for an international route?

quote:Originally posted by California Mark
does it not take longer to prepare a larger aircraft for an international route?

Almost certainly, yes - but I would have thought that an airline operating an international flight would allow for that in their schedules and allow more time for turnaround. I would be amazed if VS operate with the same assumed turnaround times as a regional carrier.

Phil (Buffy)

But even if we are comparing like for like- so we can say VS against BA's and BMI's results VS still come out bottom. When looking at carriers operating the same routes- say JFK (Ba,Ai,Vs,Ua,Aa,KW) VS still come out on bottom. The average delay on the Delhi route wsa something like 2 hours- that is disgusting for an airline operating a modern fleet.

Speaking from a frequent B+S flyer, the loading at LGW is often terrible, often if you look on the displays the flights not called until it's sched to leave. Then there's the current trouble with the transport to the terminal, coupled with the hassle of deboarding when there's two or three heavies arriving at the same time meaning the masses on the outside portion of the glass mean no one can get onboard.

The flights I have been on with VS have always departed on-time, and have always (with the exception of one) arrived early.

The one that arrived late, would have been early, but we were delayed by LHR due to heavy traffic. Circled forever!

I do not see that as a VS problem.

From reading your posts... I suppose I have been lucky!

Compared to United, American, Delta, I still find VS to be heads above!

Morning all.
I'm pretty close to the on time performance issues, and it truly is a serious problem within Virgin. It's also a problem that is not just one department's - it's one of the few areas that is influenced by many departments, and so needs to be addressed as such.
A VS task force has been set up to address the issues and to look at every single process in turning an aircraft around. From cleaning, security, passenger processing, cargo operations, cockpit and cabin crew issues and so on. The task force will comprise a pilot, an engineer, airport manager,cargo, FSM, loading handling agent and the consultant who is a "process" expert, and will keep the whole project on track. It's a full time, 3 month timescale.
We had a very similar on time problem at my last airline, and this approach dramatically improved, and sustained on time performance, and there is no reason whay we can't have similar results here!
Regards

[Decker]

Now that's good news... look forward to the results. So the consultant is a facilitator more than a Time and Motion specialist?

Yes, I worked with this group before, and their main role is to get the group to look at all the hypotheses (sp?!)and sacred cows about getting a flight off on time, listen to the literally hundreds of people involved, and test and validate all the assumptions that are made. A fascinating project, that will benefit passengers and staff alike. Next project - world hunger!

Hmm sounds interesting,
I'm sure we'd all be grateful for any updates in due course..
Also this forum is a great place for sounding off any thoughts you might have re this!

[buns]

Airport Man

Hi and welcome to V-flyer - thanks for the insight into how the issue is to be tackled.

On a general note, when does punctuality actually become a problem[?] - we all expereince having to wait for our luggage at the other end as well as getting through customs and immigration. As a consequence I never plan to do anything at a specific time either outbound or inbound.

I suspect one of the current problems at LGW is the absence of the monorail to the satelitte.

buns

The new passenger airbridge is scheduled for completion in spring 2005
Details here

Hello Airport Man,

Do you know if part of this review will be looking into the way Virgin board their passengers at LHR and LGW onto the aircraft?

Yes, boarding is a problem, particularly at LGW, where you have to board up to 451 pax thru 1 jetbridge with the secondary security checks in the process - not a quick process, but other airlines seem to do much better than us, so it CAN be done!
At LGW, the renovated pier 3 should open on Dec 10th, so that will mean we dont have to bus passengers to the satellite, so should help a bit.
Buns - I think that we can tighten up on baggage delivery, too. We seem to be wasting valuable minutes when the aircraft comes to a halt, prior to the equipment being moved into place. The whole baggage handling areas at both LHR and LGW are very congested, so anything we can do to save even a couple of minutes must be tried, and it must be consistent.
Once the on-time project gets fully underway, I'll post the results on an on-going basis.
Cheers

[Decker]

To ask a direct question which frustrates lots of us here. Why don't VS board via two doors? This would ease congestion and reduce premium frustrations at having to fight through a hostile queue to be kicked by by BAA staff who don't know the difference?

If this is commercially sensitive then ignore me

[Bazz]

Thanks for that Airport Man, good luck with the project, any improvements will be most welcome! Will the solution be migrateable (sp) to all locations, given the local operational procedures can differ a lot?

I would be interested to hear the answer to Decker's question too but have a feeling it will be down to manpower and costs.