B. On Time Departure and Arrival

The existence of the flight engineer who acts as the intermediary with maintenance staff is a necessary factor for on time departure and arrival.
Through trend monitoring, which EICAS cannot handle, the detection of malfunctioning systems and appropriate recording of necessary information in the flight log, the flight engineer contributes to speedy and appropriate maintenance on the ground.
The flight engineer is able to keep ship condition at its best a11d his presence shortens the ground stay time necessary fo repair of faults.
Data has been released that the three man crew complement results in more on time schedule keeping than the two man crew complement. According to material provided by AIRBUS, when rate of on time departures and arrivals were compared in Europe, Lufthansa was first overall but limiting the aircraft to the A-310, the three man crew of Air France excelled the two man crew of Lufthansa by 2 percent. According to a 1979 US CAB report, on time departure and arrival rates of the three man crew complement was 50 percent higher than those of the two man crew.
AIRBUS also indicates that one percent improvement in ATA and ATD will reduce the operational cost by two percent.