Australian carrier Qantas has instructed its commercial pilots not take steps to reduce severe delays in order to save on fuel costs.

The move means that passengers will no longer benefit from the airline’s rule to allow pilots to speed up operations if the flight is at least 15 minutes behind schedule. Normally, flights severely behind schedule would be able to reduce the delay significantly with such techniques, but because this burns more fuel pilots are no longer allowed to use them.

Despite the move, flights that are less than 15 minutes behind schedule will still be able to fly faster in an apparent move to keep the carrier’s on-time rating in tact, though Qantas denies this reasoning. However, officials confirmed that the need to reduce fuel costs was the main factor in disallowing pilots to make up for lost time on severely delayed flights.

A spokesman for Qantas, which spent in excess of AU $4 billion (£2.56 billion) on jet fuel last year, said that when speeds are increased beyond normal cruising speeds that fuel consumption jumps exponentially and that just trying to make up a few minutes can take thousands of extra litres of fuel.

According to Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics, flights that arrive within 15 minutes of its published arrival time are considered ‘on time’.