A system and method for synchronized oxy-fuel boosting of a regenerative glass melting furnace including first and second sets of regenerative air-fuel burners, a first double-staged oxy-fuel burner mounted in a first wall, and a second double-staged oxy-fuel burner mounted in a second wall, each oxy-fuel burner having a primary oxygen valve to apportion a flow of oxygen between primary oxygen and staged oxygen and a staging mode valve to apportion the flow of staged oxygen between an upper staging port and a lower staging port in the respective burner, and a controller programmed to control the primary oxygen valve and the staging mode valve of each of the first and second oxy-fuel burners to adjust flame characteristics of the first and second oxy-fuel burners depending on the state of operation of the furnace.