QANTAS agreed last night to work with the federal Government on a performance review system that would allow consumers to monitor airlines' lateness and tendency to lose luggage.

Transport Minister John Anderson ordered his department to collate all flight delays and publish a consumer index of the best and worst airlines.

Qantas, under fire from customers angry about late and cancelled flights, said it would work with the the Transport Department to introduce the monitoring system.

The move comes after The Australian revealed yesterday that Qantas had appointed former Liberal Party national director Lynton Crosby to help fix image problems stemming from the flight delays and other passenger complaints.

A spokesman for Mr Anderson said the ``on-time performance reviews'' would be conducted by a branch of the Department of Transport and the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics.
``We have written to the major airlines asking them to take part in this,'' the spokesman said. ``It has to be a co-operative approach. We don't have the power to compel any of the airlines to do this.''
While the reviews would be voluntary, the department would be prepared to cross-check the information provided by airlines with official air traffic control records.

The major airlines yesterday backed the reviews. Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon defended his airline's record but admitted it could do better. ``Our on-time performance is amongst the world's best, and so is our service,'' he said. ``However, we are the first to acknowledge that we can do better and that our overall performance in recent times has been impacted by rapid growth following the collapse of Ansett and heightened security arrangements at airports.''

Qantas says 85 per cent of its planes now depart within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time, which compares with a June average for 17 US carriers of 82.4 per cent. Virgin, which claims its on-time performance is about 90 per cent, praised the decision as a victory for ``consumer transparency.'' ``We welcome the review and we believe we will look better than Qantas,'' Virgin Blue spokesman David Huttner said. ``But even if we don't, it's a great motivator for our staff and our people.''