Aeroflot and All Nippon Airways (ANA) have been ranked among the most punctual airlines in the world, but UK carriers are notably absent from two well-regarded reports.
Russian carrier Aeroflot was named the most punctual mainline airline in 2019 in the annual On-Time Performance (OTP) Review by travel data and analytics firm Cirium with an OTP score of 86.68 per cent. ANA followed in close second at 86.26 per cent, while 2018’s number one, Delta, ranked third last year at 85.69 per cent.
However, ANA was ranked fifth and Aeroflot sixth in the OAG Punctuality League 2020, where Garuda Indonesia topped the list of the 20 most punctual airlines with an OTP score of 95.01 per cent.
Russian airlines topped the regional chart from Cirium, with Aeroflot ranked first and S7 Airlines second at 84.66 per cent. International Airlines Group-owned Iberia came in at number three with a score of 83.33 per cent.
Cirium also named Russia’s Sheremetyevo International airport serving Moscow as the most punctual global airport with an OTP score of 95.01 per cent. This was followed by Guangzhou Baiyun International and Shanghai Pudong. Sheremetyevo also topped the OAG Punctuality League.
Cirium CEO Jeremy Bowen commented: “Looking at the Russian carrier’s past year, it’s clear that Aeroflot has more controls in place over their environment than most. That helps enormously to drive operational efficiency. Russia’s successful year continues with Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International airport also winning the top spot as the most punctual airport.”
ANA took the top spot for both mainline and network carriers in Asia Pacific on the Cirium list, followed by Singapore Airlines, and Thai AirAsia in the mainline category and JAL in the network category.
UK carriers failed to rank on both lists, though Heathrow airport was named the 13th most-punctual “mega” hub (offering more than 30 million seats per year) by OAG.