Why a Six-Hour Flight Now Takes Seven

Article du WSJ à propos de la pratique dans le monde de l'aviation de se donner des temps standards de transit plus longs afin d'avoir de meilleures statistiques.

AMR Corp.'s American added significant chunks of block time in late 2008 and early 2009 as part of an effort to boost the airline's "on-time" performance. Other carriers say they have done much the same. [...]

But adding block time can be expensive for airlines. Adding minutes in large quantities can mean an airline can't fly the same number of flights each day without adding airplanes to its fleet or giving up spare aircraft held in reserve for when mechanical problems arise. In addition, most airlines pay crews the greater of the actual time of a trip or the scheduled time. Increasing the scheduled time adds labor costs.

"Block time is the dumbest and most expensive way to buy on-time performance," says Andrew Watterson, an airline consultant with Oliver Wyman, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos. "The better way is to improve operations at the airline" so it runs better.