Pacific Blue Publishes Domestic Ontime Performance

Pacific Blue Publishes Domestic On-Time Performance And Challenges Other Airlines Follow Its Lead

Friday 19 June 2009: Christchurch-based airline Pacific Blue today began publishing its monthly domestic On-Time Performance (OTP) results on its website, becoming the first New Zealand airline to make the information easily accessible to Kiwi travellers.

The published figures show that for the first five months of 2009 Pacific Blue domestic flights recorded an average On-Time Performance result of 92%.

Pacific Blue’s General Manager, Commercial, Adrian Hamilton-Manns, said the figure was an excellent result and the airline was challenging both Air New Zealand and Jetstar to follow its lead.

"Air New Zealand says it has nothing to hide, so we look forward to them tabling their own OTP each month. We also invite the country’s newest domestic airline, Jetstar, to publish its results so that consumers can compare service standards for themselves.”

Pacific Blue said it was surprised last week to read a media response from Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan, following delays on newly launched domestic flights, claiming that Jetstar “typically met on time performance targets up to 90 per cent of the time in Australia.”

“We think Jetstar is being a little generous with the truth because that is certainly not the case on their domestic Australian routes,” Mr Hamilton-Manns noted. “A quick check on Jetstar’s own website shows that for the past two months – April and May 2009 – their OTP was only 78%.”

In Australia, airlines have been required since 2003 to report their arrival and departure statistics monthly to the Department of Transport and Regional Services. The figures contributed by airlines are independently audited by the Australian Government and fully disclosed via the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics website (www.btre.gov.au).

While there is no similar requirement in New Zealand, Pacific Blue said it followed the same process that is used in Australia, with data collected from pilot log books. On-Time Performance is measured as all flights that depart within 15 minutes of their stated departure time with “no exceptions made for bad weather, air traffic control, delays from suppliers, unscheduled maintenance, consequences of previous delays or anything else.”

Mr Hamilton-Manns said that as a low fare airline Pacific Blue paid close attention to the interests of consumers and encouraged transparency and continuous improvement in its own business and in the air travel industry.

“Publishing OTP allows consumers to make better-informed choices about which airline they wish to travel on,” he said.

Pacific Blue’s domestic OTP results are available online at:
www.flypacificblue.com/Personal/Flightinfo/Ontimeperformance/OTPPB/index.htm

^ Jetstar Australian domestic OTP figures from www.jetstar.com/au/en/travel-info/flight-info/our-performance.aspx

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