In the trials, Qantas tested a number of boarding options including boarding passengers in zones starting with premium cabins or high-status loyalty customers, followed by groups in the middle of the plane, then the far back and the front.
It also trialled using the back door of its planes more regularly – a system already utilised by Jetstar and Virgin Australia to accelerate the boarding process.
Professor Rico Merkert, an aviation expert at the University of Sydney, said while this method is new to Australia, boarding passengers by a group number is not.
“It has been widely used in the US for some time but also in other jurisdictions, such as Singapore,” said Merkert. “Qantas trialled the system last year and seems to have found it working, which is no surprise and is all about improving aircraft punctuality and utilisation.”
Will the new system help reduce boarding times? Merkert says yes.
Chiefly, it will address boarding delays caused by a recent surge in Qantas high-priority status frequent flyers – a hangover from COVID-19 status extensions and status matching exercises with Virgin Australia.
“Those passenger can board the plane first, regardless of the cabin they are booked in, which can lead to long queues and inefficient boarding,” said Merkert.
“Given the new system will be properly policed through boarding pass scanners, these passengers still be priorities but a loyal business class passenger will likely be in a different group than a loyal passenger flying economy class.”
The rollout comes on the back of new airline performance data for April 2024, which saw Virgin Australia edge ahead of Qantas as the most punctual domestic carrier, with an 82.6 per cent on-time rate, compared to Qantas’ 79.1 per cent.
Airline on-time arrivals (79.2 per cent) and departures (79.9 per cent) in April were below the long-term average, of 81 per cent and 82.1 per cent respectively.
Merkert said Qantas may also consider following All Nippon Airways by combining the groups with a system that allows window seat passengers to board the aircraft first.
“At least in economy, that holds in my view a lot of additional potential for smoothening the boarding process as it reduces crowding in the aisles,” he said.
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In May 2023, Jetstar implemented a raft of changes to address its poor punctuality rates, including earlier cut-off times for check-in, bag drop and boarding.
Jetstar passengers travelling domestically are now required to arrive for check-in and bag drop at least 40 minutes prior to scheduled departure time, and to line up at the boarding gate at least 20 minutes before.