A critical part of Delta's restructuring appears to be off to a good start. On January 31st Delta started Operation Clockwork, an ambitious restructuring of the Atlanta hub. Operation Clockwork if properly executed is suppose to improve Delta's on time performance, increase aircraft utilization and allow for improved customer connections. There are essentially three parts to Delta's restructuring, reduced costs ($2.3B in employee cost reductions for 2005), increased aircraft utilization and improved on time performance (Operation Clockwork), and Simplifares. The big unknown, which Delta can not control, is the cost of fuel. Will it all work, only time will tell, but the early results are encouraging.
Delta just put out the following press release as it pertains to Operation Clockwork.
"Better on-time performance, shorter wait times for customers despite challenging weather
Although results are preliminary, in its first 10 days the schedule redesign made a significant difference for customers traveling on Delta:
Delta just put out the following press release as it pertains to Operation Clockwork.
"Better on-time performance, shorter wait times for customers despite challenging weather
Although results are preliminary, in its first 10 days the schedule redesign made a significant difference for customers traveling on Delta:
- Better on-time: On Saturday Feb. 5, und er clear skies, Atlanta set a new record for on-time arrivals with 96.7% of all flights arriving within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.
- Improved weather recovery: The new schedule proved its value to customers when challenging weather conditions hit Atlanta. On Wednesday, Feb. 2, a day with extremely low visibility, on-time performance was between six and 10 percentage points higher than the same days a year before, and as much as 22 percentage points higher than days with similar weather conditions.
- Reduced airport security waits: By spreading flights more evenly, Delta's new schedule reduced airport congestion. On Monday mornings, the busiest time of the week at Atlanta's security checkpoints, wait times on the past two Mondays were reduced by an average of 35 minutes.
- More Flight choices: As a result of improved aircraft utilization, Delta successfully launched more than 80 additional flights from Atlanta."
