Personally, I think the Weyland / David scene should have been removed from the main film, and instead kept as a viral or DVD extra.
The saved film runtime minutes should have been better spent on the final part of the movie to re-build tension when the survivors arrive back at the Covenant. The final off-screen chest-burst was a wasted opportunity.
For newbies, Covenant opening probably would only have much significance if we saw Weyland again at some point, or at least if cast drop more references about Weyland corp.
Also, if you add up the Prometheus opening, and the Alien Covenant opening, I wouldn't be surprised if that totals around 30 mins runtime (and in Prometheus, we all know about the illogical dialogue and how rushed the final part of the film felt)