Airlines reveal punctuality

Airlines have released information on their punctuality ahead of changes to the Commerce Act next year, which will require a wide range of disclosure from airports.

Last week, Pacific Blue, the Christchurch-based subsidiary of Virgin Blue, said it would publish information on its website showing how well it was sticking to its timetable, and challenged competitors Air New Zealand and Jetstar to do the same.

The ploy came after Qantas-owned Jetstar ran into trouble sticking to its schedule after starting flights between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown earlier this month, replacing Qantas on the routes.

Jetstar changed its timetable to build a bigger buffer into its schedule, hit by delays which it blamed on ground equipment problems, airport infrastructure, new staff and procedures, the Herald on Sunday reported.

Jetstar's figures showed that in the first six days of operation, 20 percent of flights ran within 15 minutes of schedule. By the middle of last week, that had improved to 61.5 percent.

Pacific Blue's own figures for the first five months of 2009 showed that flights ran within 15 minutes of schedule 92 percent of the time.

Air New Zealand said it kept within 10 minutes of its schedule on main trunk jet routes for 90 percent of the time, for most of the past year.

Airlines' figures would be given to the Commerce Commission and were expected to be made public, Board of Airlines Representatives executive director John Beckett.

Other data included surveys of passenger satisfaction with airports, and records of when runways and taxiways were not available.