Bristol Airport has topped flight punctuality league tables published recently, with an on-time performance rating of 94.6 per cent making it the world’s best.
Leading global aviation intelligence provider, OAG, based the league tables on 43.5 million flight records from 4,000 airports worldwide.
The report covers the 2014 calendar year and is based on the proportion of flights arriving and departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
Luton was the second most punctual UK airport after Bristol followed by Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow, Manchester, Stansted and Gatwick.
The Bristol figure of 94.6pc compares with just 60.1pc of flights at Gatwick and 75.5pc at Heathrow.
Bristol is therefore top of the league not only for small airports, but also larger facilities.
The international average on time take-off and departure rate for airports covered by OAG is 79.95pc.
The OAG Punctuality League 2014
Large airports
The most punctual large air hub was Munich Airport at 89%, followed by Tokyo Haneda at 87.9% and Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport at 86.2%.
The world’s busiest air destination, Atlanta, was ranked 12th on the large airports list with a score of 82.4%. Dubai, at 14th with 82.3%, was the only Middle Eastern airport to make any of the top twenties.
Medium airports
Japan’s Osaka International Airport claimed the top spot for medium sized airports with 93.2%, followed by Moscow Sheremetyevo at 89.8% and Copenhagen Airport at 89.8%.
Small airports
European destinations dominated the timekeeping list when it comes to small airports, with Bristol followed closely by Brussels South Charleroi Airport at 93.1% and Berlin Schoenefeld at 92.3%.
UK Airport Expansion
OAG’s results show that even in light of the greater operational challenges that large airports face, the leaders in this category still achieved on-time performance levels of nearly 90%.
Aside from congestion due to high demand for slots, these airports are also more likely to feel the effect of disruption elsewhere, as their route networks include many more airports.
N.B. Image credit: Bristol Airport
