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The world's least delayed airlines revealed

British Airways is Europe’s most punctual ‘mega’ airline

Helen Coffey
Monday 14 January 2019 12:27 GMT
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Copa Airlines has come out on top for punctuality
Copa Airlines has come out on top for punctuality

Copa Airlines is the world’s most punctual airline according to new research.

Some 89.79 per cent of the Panama flag carrier’s flights departed or arrived within 15 minutes of the scheduled time last year, revealed OAG, a provider of travel data and insight, in its OAG Punctuality League 2019.

The annual report was based on more than 57 million flight records from 1 January to 31 December 2018; OAG has to have data for at least 80 per cent of an airline or airport’s scheduled flights to include it in the league.

Copa was followed by airBaltic, which had an On-Time Performance (OTP) of 89.17 per cent; Hong Kong Airlines, whose OTP was 88.11 per cent; Hawaiian Airlines, with an OTP of 87.52 per cent; and Bangkok Airways, finishing up the top five with an OTP of 87.16 per cent.

No UK airlines made the top 20 overall or the top 20 European airlines.

AirBaltic was the top European airline for punctuality, followed by KLM, Iberia and Alitalia in second, third and fourth place respectively.

However, British Airways did make it into the 10 most punctual “mega” airlines, defined as the world’s top 20 operators globally in terms of scheduled flights in 2018.

Slipping into 10th place with an OTP of 75.78 per cent, BA was the most punctual mega airline in Europe last year.

Airports were split into categories – small, medium, large, major and mega – in order to rank punctuality.

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The only UK airport to make it into the top 20 for any category was London Heathrow, which was the 15th most punctual “mega” airport – those flying more than 30 million seats – last year.

“2018 was a tough year for Europe’s aviation market,” said John Grant, senior analyst with OAG. “The region’s airlines and airports faced a perfect storm of industrial action, supplier issues and inclement weather – all of which combined to have a big impact on OTP.

“Considering the difficult circumstances, many of the region’s top carriers and airports performed quite admirably.”

He added: “On-time performance is one of the single most important metrics in the travel industry. Every on-time arrival and departure creates a significant trickle-down impact that affects travellers, other airlines and airports, business, travel suppliers and more.”

Most punctual airlines

  1. Copa Airlines 
  2. AirBaltic 
  3. Hong Kong Airlines 
  4. Hawaiian Airlines 
  5. Bangkok Airways 
  6. Qantas Airways 
  7. LATAM Airlines Group 
  8. Azul 
  9. Qatar Airways 
  10. KLM 
  11. All Nippon Airways 
  12. Jetstar Asia 
  13. Japan Airlines 
  14. Air Astana 
  15. Singapore Airlines 
  16. Delta Air Lines 
  17. Iberia 
  18. Solaseed 
  19. Mango 
  20. Alitalia 

Most punctual small airports

  1. Minsk 
  2. Abha 
  3. San Jose Cabo 
  4. Curitiba 
  5. Tenerife North

Most punctual medium airports

  1. Panama City 
  2. Dammam 
  3. Sao Paulo Viracopos
  4. Recife 
  5. Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont

Most punctual large airports

  1. Osaka 
  2. Honolulu 
  3. Brasilia
  4. Salt Lake City 
  5. Portland

Most punctual major airports

  1. Moscow Sheremetyevo 
  2. Doha 
  3. Minneapolis 
  4. Detroit 
  5. Mexico City

Most punctual mega airports

  1. Tokyo Haneda 
  2. Atlanta
  3. Singapore Changi 
  4. Denver 
  5. Los Angeles 

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