Originally Posted by
Waterhorse
It is an attempt to grasp an opportunity for an early departure when possible. It all helps to ensure that BA is above all a punctual airline.
This is all well and good but they just forget to either consult with the crew so they stick to their departure processes, which are tightly controlled in terms of time. Unless the crew are ailable early then Ops are just whistling in the wind.
This is done with the full participation of the flight crew. Ops now has much more data available to it and is able to project potential enroute delays and, when possible, eliminate them.
By way of example, a weather front moving in, may motivate Ops to move up the departure, if possible, to avoid subjecting the flight to an enroute delay. Alternatively, if there have been other delays into the arrival airport, it may be possible to get ahead of the "crowd" and have a more direct approach. That saves both time and fuel.
I doubt that freight would have delayed things because that is known well in advance. But, passenger hold luggage might as there may have been tight connections and those bags can't easily be left behind if on time as originally scheduled.