Customers expect a safe and comfortable journey, and to arrive on time. In fiscal 2008, the JAL Group's on-time departure rate for aircraft (the percentage of planes that left within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time) was 95.3% on domestic routes, which remains on par with the previous year's strong performance. On international routes, the rate was 92.8%, which marks a significant improvement over the previous year. Everyone from airport service staff to the head-office timetable planning department are working together to achieve the best on-time departure performance. The timetable planning department must take into account differences in seasons and time zones, and select routes that have less likelihood of delays due to weather, etc. Meanwhile, the cargo handling crew must work daily to improve efficiency. Airport staff must make efforts to board passengers in as little time as possible without causing them any inconvenience.
Beginning in 2008, passengers on international flights are now required to show their passports to our airport staff prior to boarding to confirm their identity. Consequently, the boarding process has become even more time-consuming, raising concern about the potential impact on our on-time departure rate. Using this as an opportunity, in fiscal 2008 we made major revisions in boarding procedures under the slogan of "Smooth and Silent." Such improvements include the display of departure times using LED electronic message boards, signs written in several languages, and the use of a placard to notify passengers of our passport identification and authentication system. We also give guidance through the use of announcements.
"In the past, airport staff would escort passengers to the departure gate, and speaking loudly, had to ask them to hurry at departure time. The word "silent" in our slogan 'Smooth and silent' refers to the various changes we have made with regard to signs and announcements at the gate, enabling us to get passengers to arrive early at the boarding gate, and facilitating a much smoother boarding process," explains Junichiro Hirohashi, a member of the ground staff at Narita Airport.
Even though we are making efforts to improve our on-time departure rate, the need to ensure safety sometimes results in flights being delayed. If flights will be delayed by more than one hour, the JAL Group requests that a maintenance crew representative go to the boarding gate and explain the situation to passengers. Explaining the reason for the delay helps to relieve passengers' stress. This practice, started in response to a suggestion by a member of the maintenance crew, was introduced at Narita Airport in fiscal 2006. In fiscal 2008, it had been implemented 51 times at a total of four airports (Narita, Haneda, Kansai and New Chitose).