The world-leading air travel data company OAG has published its Punctuality League for 2020, which includes some surprises.
For example, Garuda Indonesia is the world’s overall top-performing airline, with 95% of its flights arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival; that’s despite congestion at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at Jakarta where Garuda operates 35% of its flights.
Another surprise is the dramatic improvements which have taken place in Russia. Aeroflot has risen to the lead of European carriers, ranks sixth globally by OTP, and ranks second by OTP among the largest “Mega” airlines in the world. It helps that Russia’s airports have improved OTP too. St Petersburg Pulkovo ranks second among large airports and Moscow Sheremetyevo at the lead of the world’s “Mega” airports.
OAG Top 20 Airlines by On-Time Performance
It’s notable that the top five On-Time Performers among all airlines include two Asian carriers (Garuda and Skymark) and two Latin American carriers (Copa and LATAM), no European carriers (though Aeroflot ranks a very close sixth), and only one North American carrier (Hawaiian Airlines).
OAG Top 20 Mega Airlines by On-Time Performance
If you want to have the option of flying to many destinations with a “Mega” carrier, then flying with LATAM Airlines Group offers the greatest likelihood of getting there on time. Delta Air Lines, which has acquired a 20% share of LATAM as part of a strategic partnership covering all of the Americas, also performs well on-time. It is the only North American airline to appear among the Top 5 “Mega” airlines by OTP.
Good news for those headed to the 2020 Olympics in Japan: don’t flight expect delays.
Skymark Airlines ranked third among all of the world’s carriers for OTP and both of Japan’s largest carriers—All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL)—are ranked among the Top 20 airlines worldwide.
Japan’s airports also perform well. Tokyo Haneda ranks second among the “Mega” airports globally, Tokyo Narita ranks 11th for OTP among the world’s “Major” airports, and Osaka Itami leads the ranking of “Large” airports worldwide.
OAG Top 20 Mega Airports by On-Time Performance
OAG Ranking of Low-Cost Carriers by On-Time Performance
We might call this the “Time is Money” ranking.
If you’re looking to see more of the world with cheap airfare but don’t want to waste any time waiting for your plane to take-off, then OAG’s OTP rankings of Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) suggests that you’d get a lot of time for your money travelling in Asia, Latin America and Europe where the highest-ranking Top 10 on-time performers fly.