Flights' On-Time Rates Fell Slightly in August, Especially in Asia

The on-time performance of most major north american airlines fell slightly in August, FlightStats reported on Wednesday in its monthly statistics release.

Major International airlines on average delivered 74 percent of their flights to the arrival gate within 15 minutes of schedule in August, down from July’s 75 percent. Seven major international carriers had over 90% of their flights land on time, though: those were Finnair, South African Airways, Tyrolean Airways, Gulf Air, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and EasyJet.

Hawaiian airlines was the most timely North American airline, with almost 94 percent of its flights arriving on time; Spirit Air was North America's worst at 62 percent.

On the whole, Asian airlines had the poorest results last month, with only three of the continent's top ten airlines achieving on-time rates above 90 percent. Among airports, which are ranked based on the timeliness of departures by flights leaving them, Asian locations also did the worst; only 27 percent of flights left Shangai's airport on time, and in Beijing the rate was only slightly higher, at close to 29 percent.