With the start of a new year, the sound you hear is the accountants crunching numbers for the year just passed—and that produces all sorts of lists of best and worst, including for the airline industry. Here are a few of the recent announcements, some of which may surprise you!
The Cirium On-Time Performance Review for mainline global airlines crowned Russia’s Aeroflot as the most punctual, followed by Japan’s ANA. In third place was Delta, last year’s winner, followed by Brazil’s Azul and Japan Airlines. All were on-time (or within 15 minutes of) between 82 and 87 percent.
Aeroflot’s numbers may have been helped by its home base, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport being named the world’s most punctual. Two Chinese airports took the next two places.
But if you’re not so much concerned with time as with safety, there’s Qantas. The Australian airline placed nowhere on the most punctual lists, but AirlineRatings.com marked it safest, based on factors including government audits, safety initiatives, profitability and fleet age. The rest of the top five for major airlines were Air New Zealand, Eva Air, Etihad and Qatar Airways.
