Qantas is continuing to introduce a slew of comprehensive boarding changes in an effort to improve customer satisfaction and on-time performance.
The new domestic group boarding process, which was first announced last year, is now in place in Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, and will continue to roll out across the country.
But there has been another change to boarding on morning flights in particular that could save passengers eight minutes.
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In an email to customers in June, the airline said getting passengers to their “destination safely and on time is our highest priority”.
“That’s why we’re making changes to boarding times for Qantas Domestic Flights operated by Boeing 737 aircraft,” it read.
Specifically, travellers departing at or before 8am from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide will now begin boarding 30 minutes prior to departure.
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That’s eight minutes earlier than the standard 22 minutes before takeoff that boarding usually takes place.
Qantas integrated operations centre chief Daniel Dihen said the change was crucial for the morning flights to avoid having delays across the day.
“The minute you’ve got a delay, it’s almost like a snowball effect. You will land multiple delays off the back of that, so our first wave of flights is really important to us,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
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“Eight minutes is quite a long time, and that’s allowing us to close the door and push back one or two minutes ahead of our scheduled departure time, which puts us in a better position and sets every Qantas customer up for success as well.”
And the changes seem to be working, with Qantas achieving its highest punctuality figures in 17 months during the month of May.
Just over 80 per cent of Qantas flights (Qantas and QantasLink combined) departed on time, up from 79.9 per cent in April and 78.2 per cent in March.
Customers eligible for priority boarding will still be able to board at any time. Online check-in remains available 24 hours before departure, closing 30 minutes prior to domestic flights.