Qantas’ big move to fix annoying issue

Qantas has announced some big changes to the airline including plans to overhaul its app that will allow passengers to track their bags.

Qantas has announced some big changes to the airline including a way to track your bags.

On Tuesday, the Aussie carrier revealed plans for an overhauled version of its smartphone app that will give customers more control of their booking and introduce baggage tracking during passengers’ journeys.

The changes are in response to customer feedback following a spate of misplaced bags in the past year, along with cancellations, delays and staff shortages as travel demand surged post-Covid.

The new change is expected to launch towards the end of 2023, along with changes to its boarding process to “improve on-time performance” and to “better recognise” tiered Frequent Flyers.

The Qantas app will be overhauled to allow passengers to track their bags during flights, to ensure they are making the same trip. Picture: Qantas.

According to Airline On Time Performance Statistics report specifically for April 2023, the Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 78.4 per cent for on time arrivals.

“Qantas achieved the highest on time arrivals among the major domestic airlines at 73.7 per cent followed by Virgin Australia at 67.9 per cent and Jetstar at 59.7 per cent,” the report read.

“Of the regional airlines, QantasLink recorded 81.5 per cent for on time arrivals, followed by Rex Airlines at 73.2 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 59.6 per cent.”

The Qantas network also recorded 77.4 per cent for on time departures.

But the airline vows to further improve its statistics in response to customer feedback.

It comes as a result of customer feedback. Picture: Daily Telegraph / Gaye Gerard

Qantas also plans to make changes to its boarding process to improve on-time performance’ and to ‘better recognise’ tiered Frequent Flyers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Meanwhile, the airline is also predicting that changes to its fleet and ultra-long haul flights will drive a whopping $400 million in earnings when the planes finally hit the sky.

The national carrier is on track to hit a record profit of $2.48 billion for the latest financial year – almost $1 billion higher than pre-Covid profits.

Highly-anticipated long-haul flights between Australia, Europe and North America – known as Project Sunrise – are expected to drive a “significant incremental” increase to earnings.

Another factor is the twelve Airbus A350-1000 aircraft that were ordered specifically to deliver the direct route services to London and New York.

“[Project Sunrise] is expected to deliver significant incremental earnings increases, reaching an estimated $400+ million EBIT per annum in the first full year of having all 12 aircraft in service,” Qantas said in a statement outlining their 2030 strategy.

Inaugural flights are scheduled to takeoff in late 2025 and will cut down point-to-travel time by up to four hours compared to routes with one stop.

Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said updates to the airline’s long-term strategy is proof of the business’ transformation since the pandemic.

“This is a structurally different business than it was before Covid, operating in markets that have also changed,” he said.

Arrivals of next-generation aircraft are central to the airline’s plan to adapt to industry changes.

“New technology is central to our plan and the next-generation aircraft that have started arriving will transform our network over the next few years,” he said.

“We’ll be able to serve our customers better, reduce our cost base through lower running costs and carve out some new competitive advantages.”

– with NCA Newswire