The world’s most punctual airlines and airports 2019 report is out. Latin American carriers are defying their cultural norm with surprising performances.
The top airlines rated for the best customer service are not necessary the world’s most punctual airlines. This applies to airports too.
If saving travel time is your priority, this news would come in handy.
Travel analyst OAG (Official Airline Guide) recently released their league table of the world’s most punctual airlines and airports.
Their table ranking is created based on 58 million flight records using 2018 full-year data from OAG’s flight status module.
Latin American Carriers off on a Good Start
Punctuality is not a Latin American cultural forte. But Latin American carriers are defying the norm. The New Year has started well for Latin American carriers: Copa Airlines and LATAM Airlines Group.
Copa Airlines took first place as the world’s most punctual airline with on-time performance (OTP) of 89.79 percent.
The first-ever Latin American league winner beat three time winner airBaltic by 0.62 percent.
LATAM Airlines Group was ranked first in the mega airlines category scoring OTP of 85.60 percent. The Chilean based carrier scaled an astounding seven places, bumping Japan Airlines who took top-spot in the prior year report.
Asian carrier, Bangkok Air known for their excellent service leaped to fifth place. The carrier performance has risen significantly considering it was not even in the top 20 list in the previous year report.
Top 10 World’s Most Punctual Airlines
| Rank | Carrier | Country | OTP (%) | Top in Airline Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Copa Airlines | Panama | 89.79 | All and Latin America |
| 2 | airBaltic | Latvia | 89.17 | Europe |
| 3 | Hong Kong Airlines | Hong Kong | 88.11 | Asia-Pacific |
| 4 | Hawaiian Airlines | U.S.A. | 87.52 | North America |
| 5 | Bangkok Airways | Thailand | 87.16 | |
| 6 | Qantas Airways | Australia | 85.65 | |
| 7 | Latam Airlines | Chile | 85.60 | Mega |
| 8 | Azul Brazilian Airlines | Brazil | 85.21 | Low Cost Carrier |
| 9 | Qatar Airways | Qatar | 85.17 | Middle East |
| 10 | KLM Royal Dutch Airlines | The Netherlands | 85.21 | 84.52 |
Source: OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd.
World’s Top 10 Most Punctual Airports
The two Latin carriers’ success is followed by Panama City’s ascent from third to first place in the medium airports category.
Five American airports were among the most punctual airports in the mega airport category. New entrant, Belarus’s Minsk National Airport took top spot in the small airports category.
Japan kept their OTP standards winning the large airport and mega airport categories with Osaka and Tokyo Haneda holding onto their respective top spots.
| Rank | Airport | Country | OTP (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo Haneda | Japan | 85.62 |
| 2 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta | U.S.A | 82.23 |
| 3 | Changi | Singapore | 80.70 |
| 4 | Denver | U.S.A. | 80.65 |
| 5 | Los Angeles | U.S.A. | 79.95 |
| 6 | Madrid–Barajas | Spain | 79.16 |
| 7 | Dallas/Fort Worth | U.S.A | 78.23 |
| 8 | Amsterdam Schiphol | The Netherlands | 77.73 |
| 9 | Bangkok Suvarnabhumi | Thailand | 77.21 |
| 10 | Chicago O’Hare | U.S.A. | 76.67 |
Source: OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd.
Note: The top 10 mega airport ranking is based on servicing airlines with over 30 million annual departing seats.
The World’s Most Punctual Airlines and Airports report is produced by UK-based OAG Aviation Worldwide.
OAG’s criteria of OTP are based on flights arriving or departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival/departure times. Flight cancellations are also included.
