Revealed: World's most punctual airlines in 2018; Emirates among top 20

Dubai - Emirates substantially improved its punctuality rating in 2018, achieving on time performance of 81.44%.

Punctuality is highly important for the airline industry because it not just improve passengers' perception and credibility about the airline but also reduces costs for them.
According to travel analyst portal OAG, Dubai's Emirates substantially improved its punctuality rating in 2018, achieving on time performance (OTP) of 81.44 per cent last year as compared to 79.71 per cent in the previous year. This resulted in Emirates being rated 2nd most punctual airline in 2018 as against 4th in the previous year in the Middle East. In 2018, there are five new entrants among the top 20 airlines which ranked below 20 last year. These are Bangkok Airways, LATAM Airlines Group, KLM, Siberia Airlines and Emirates.
Globally, Dubai's carrier was ranked 19th most punctual among mainline airlines.
Regionally, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Royal Jordanian and Flynas were rated 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively, in terms of OTP score.
Globally, Copa Airlines topped with 89.79 per cent on-time performance followed by airBaltic, Hong Kong Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Qantas Airways, LatAm Airlines Group, Qatar Airways, KLM and All Nippon Airways.
While Azul, Jetstar Asia, Solaseed, Mango and Volaris achieves best OTP rating among the low-cost carriers. None of the GCC-based carriers could make it to the top 20 ranking in 2018.

OAG's data is based on 58 million flight records using full-year data from 2018 to create a ranking of the best OTP for the world's largest airlines and airports.

Among mega airports handling over 30 million passengers per annum, Tokyo Haneda achieved highest punctuality rating with OTP score at 85.62 per cent followed by airports of Atlanta, Singapore's Chagi, Denver and Los Angeles.

Munich Airport is a new entrant to this ranking, having qualified for the Mega Airports category for the first time, while Paris Charles de Gaulle and Dubai have dropped out of the table altogether, OAG said.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai