The top 10 airlines in Europe
When it comes to punctuality, look no further than Norwegian Air Shuttle. The carrier recorded an 89.25% on-time performance (OTP) in May, which is defined as flights that departed the gate within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. In second place was LOT Polish with an 88.68% flight on time with Iberia missing out by a few dozen flights with an OTP of 88.63%. Finnair and Austrian rounded off the top five with 85.49% and 83.31% leaving their gate within 15 minutes of departure time, respectively.
Things quickly fell from there, with tenth place Eurowings seeing just 73.16% of flights being punctual. Vueling finished sixth with 81.97% of its flights on schedule, while Norwegian Sweden took seventh but with a distant 76.07% OTP. KLM, once the leader in early 2023, fell to eighth with an OTP of 75.9%, and Transavia France finished ninth with 73.42%.
However, these numbers don't explain much unless compared to the global leaders. Avianca came in first overall with an OTP of 89.51%, just a whisker ahead of Norwegian. Delta was in second place at 88.86% of flights being punctual and LATAM was third with an OTP of 88.23%. Norwegian and LOT aren't classed as "large airlines," meaning Iberia was the only European carrier to break into the top 10 global list at fourth place with its 88.63% flight OTP.
Notably, not a single UK-based operator cracked the top 10, and big names such as Lufthansa and SWISS were absent as well. Considering these airlines are struggling to hit 70% punctuality in May means it could be a hectic summer, although additional staffing should help keep things steady.
Only one airport in the top 10 globally
On the airport side, Europe didn't perform too well. Only one major airport cracked the top 10: Oslo Gardermoen Airport (OSL), with an on-time performance of 86.41% and placing it in eighth place. Meanwhile, US airports dominated, with Minneapolis-St. Paul on top with 89.63% of flights on time, and five more American hubs closing out the list.
Helsinki Airport (HEL) managed to come 15th among medium-sized airports with an OTP of 84.94% but was handily beaten by Osaka Itami (ITM), which had a stunning 93.9% of flights on time. Overall, the numbers don't look great for Europe's airports but also don't look anywhere as bad as last summer. If you want to make a bet on where you'll get out on time, pick a Scandinavian airport if you can.
