Mascot, Australia: Qantas and Jetstar are preparing to fly almost 450,000 customers domestically and internationally this weekend as school holidays start in Victoria and Queensland and footy fans travel interstate for the finals.
The bumper long weekend of travel will see 3700 flights take off across both airlines, with high load factors across the network.
More flights have been added and bigger aircraft have been scheduled between Melbourne and Sydney this weekend for the footy finals. Fans have snapped up cheaper fares, with only higher, last-minute fares still available.
Qantas has seen a significant improvement in its operational performance, with flight delays, cancellations and mishandled bags all reduced. In August, on-time performance was 67 per cent with 4 per cent of flights cancelled, compared to 52 per cent and 6 per cent in July. This continued to improve during September.
The improvement is driven by:
More than 1,500 additional people joining the airlines since April, including cabin crew, airport customer service, and engineers, with recruitment continuing.
Reduced domestic flying has increased the availability of staff on standby, which lessens the impact of crew sick leave, the key driver of cancelled and delayed flights in July.
Ground handling suppliers increasing their workforce by 25 per cent since Easter, which represents a 10 percentage point increase on the June/July school holidays.
Several additional measures are in place this weekend:
Airlines and airports will have extra staff in terminals to assist at check-in and manage queues. Airports will have additional staff at security screening points during peak times to minimise queues.
Qantas is using its Airbus A330s, which seat around 100 more passengers than a Boeing 737, on several domestic routes to provide more capacity.
Up to four additional aircraft are on standby to assist if required
POPULAR DESTINATIONS
The most popular domestic destinations for Qantas and Jetstar customers during the upcoming school holidays (Friday 16 September to Sunday 16 October) across all States and Territories are Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Gold Coast, Byron Bay (Ballina) and Hobart.
Internationally, flights to London, Fiji, Bali and the United States are extremely popular.
