Analysts trawled through more than 57 million flight records from 2017 to determine the most punctual airlines and airports.
After trawling through 57 million flight records from 2017, UK travel analyst firm OAG published its list of the best ranked punctual carriers and airports in the world.
Throughout the year, the most punctual airline was Latvian flag carrier airBaltic, which achieved an on-time performance (OTP) of 90.01%.
On-time performance is credited to flights that arrive or depart inside 15 minutes of their scheduled times.
It may come as no surprise that the top two major carriers on the list are from Japan – a country renowned for its punctuality.
Japan Airlines was top of the “mega airlines” list with an on-time performance of 85.27%, while second place went to All Nippon Airways, with 83.81%.
Additionally, Tokyo’s Haneda Airport was ranked the most punctual “Mega” airport.
Last year, Japanese train operator, Tsukuba Express, issued an apology after one of its trains left the platform 20 seconds earlier than scheduled.
In third place of the biggest carriers was Delta Air Lines, which achieved an OTP of 82.76%.
On the other end of the spectrum, Air Inuit, an airline based in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada, ranked as the least punctual.
It is unclear why the analysts did not categorise Qantas and Singapore Airlines as “mega airlines.”
Overall most punctual airlines:
1. airBaltic – 90.01%
2. Hong Kong Airlines – 88.83%
3. Hawaiian Airlines – 87.24%
4. Copa Airlines – 86.39%
5. Qantas Airways – 86.18%
6. Japan Airlines – 85.27%
7. Vueling Airlines – 85.25%
8. Jetstar Asia – 85.08%
9. Skymark Airlines – 85.00%
10. Aer Lingus – 84.46%
11. Transavia – 84.25%
12. Azul – 84.14%
13. Singapore Airlines – 84.07%
14. All Nippon Airways – 83.81%
15. Qatar Airways – 82.95%
16. Delta Air Lines – 82.76%
17. Alitalia – 82.40%
18. Aegean Airlines – 82.38%
19. Austrian Airlines – 82.15%
20. Volaris – 82.13%
Most punctual among “mega airlines” only:
1. Japan Airlines – 85.27%
2. All Nippon Airways – 83.81%
3. Delta Air Lines – 82.76%
4. IndiGo – 81.22%
5. Alaska Airlines – 81.06%
6. SAS – 80.90%
7. United Airlines – 79.86%
8. LATAM Airlines Group – 79.39%
9. American Airlines – 78.97%
10. Southwest – 78.55%
11. British Airways – 78.55%
12. Lufthansa – 76.90%
13. Air France – 76.44%
14. Turkish Airlines – 76.35%
15. easyJet – 74.82%
16. JetBlue – 71.74%
17. Air Canada – 67.32%
18. China Southern Airlines – 64.19%
19. China Eastern Airlines – 61.80%
20. Air China – 60.14%
Overall least punctual airlines:
1. Xiamen Airlines Company – 58.3%
2. Philippines AirAsia Inc. – 58.0%
3. Sunwing Airlines Inc. – 57.9%
4. Cebu Pacific Air – 57.6%
5. SATA International-Azores Airlines S.A. – 57.1%
6. Indonesia AirAsia X – 56.8%
7. LACSA-Lineas Aereas Costarricenses -54.2%
8. Shenzhen Airlines – 53.5%
9. AVIOR Airlines – 53.1%
10. Air Inuit – 44.6%
Most punctual “Mega” airports:
1. Tokyo Haneda – 86.75%
2. Madrid – 83.63%
3. Atlanta – 82.38%
4. Denver – 82.24%
5. Dallas/Fort Worth – 81.36%
Most punctual major airports:
1. Minneapolis St Paul – 85.72%
2. Doha – 85.41%
3. Moscow Sheremetyevo – 83.55%
4. Detroit – 83.30%
5. Phoenix – 83.22%
Most punctual large airports:
1. Osaka – 88.45%
2. Salt Lake City – 86.01%
3. Sapporo – 84.73%
4. Brasilia – 84.58%
5. Rio de Janeiro – 84.25%
Most punctual medium airports:
1. Birmingham – 89.52%
2. Panama City – 88.26%
3. Cologne Bonn – 86.66%
4. Belo Horizonte – 84.96%
5. Stuttgart – 84.71%
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