"Keep this thing churning on time for as long as possible because there's a deteriorating effect on your entire system once it starts to go." "The key is to not let yourself fall behind," Holtz says. Delays early in the day are particularly problematic.
Dave Holtz, senior vice president of operations, credited schedule changes, monthly bonuses of up to $100 per employee for hitting on-time and other goals, and the rote, repeatable task of sticking to a minute-by-minute pre-departure checklist. Southwest tumbled to last among the largest five carriers in 2013 and much of 2014 but topped American and United in October, according to figures released Wednesday.ĭelta went from worst to first among the biggest airlines in 2011 and has stayed there ever since. Still, the plane remained nine to 28 minutes behind schedule for the remaining four flights of the day, according to the tracking service .Īs recently as 2009, Southwest led the big airlines in on-time arrivals, which the government defines as within 14 minutes of schedule. Southwest's control center relayed word of the delay to Phoenix employees, who "turned" the aircraft faster than normal before its next flight. But the damage had been done.įlight 454 left 29 minutes behind schedule and arrived in Phoenix 34 minutes late. A replacement was ordered and installed, a tug pushed the plane back from the gate, and the pilots taxied into position for takeoff. Inside the terminal, agents at Gate 12 started boarding the 136 passengers - they're supposed to close the aircraft door five minutes before scheduled departure.Īnd then, a snag. Workers called "ops agents" calculated load weight and balance and completed paperwork. The pilots for Flight 454 to Phoenix inspected their Boeing 737 in the dark.
The last bag should be on the plane and the bin doors closed five minutes before scheduled departure, says Dave Obeso, a Southwest ramp supervisor. They'll assign two or more bag handlers to each flight.
On a freezing morning recently at Dallas Love Field, Southwest supervisors showed up at 4 a.m., two hours before the first flights. Tardiness creates other problems including missed connections, lost bags and short tempers among frustrated travelers. airline flights arrived late - about one in five. In the first nine months of the year, more than 1 million U.S. Delays cost passengers even more - nearly $17 billion. A 2010 study commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration estimated that flight delays cost the airline industry $8 billion a year, much of it due to increased spending on crews, fuel and maintenance. By midafternoon, the rate dropped into the low 70s, then plunged into the 60s by dinner time.ĭelays are costly for airlines and their passengers. This summer, for example, airlines were on-time around 85 percent or better until midmorning. In the airline world, delays build as the day wears on. "You're going to hit the two traffic lights that you never hit." "If you're late out of the driveway in the morning, you're probably going to be a little bit late to work," says Steve Hozdulick, Southwest's senior director of operational performance. And they told employees that the first flight of the day on every route had to leave on time. This summer, they backed off by allowing more time between flights. Southwest officials needed to fix an ill-fated decision to squeeze more flights into the schedule. airlines, so its tumble toward the bottom of government rankings for on-time arrivals was stunning. DALLAS - For years, Southwest was the most punctual of big U.S.