A survey by travel intelligence specialist OAG has revealed that only three out of five flights arriving and departing from Gatwick are usually on time. The company engaged hundreds of airports in the survey which took place throughout the year. The On-Time-Performance Star Ratings awarded the airports between one and five stars, based on punctuality. Airports that scored 75 per cent or more on the standard industry criteria of arriving or departing no more than 15 minutes late qualified for one star. Isle of Man, Exeter and Belfast International Airport scored 1.Heathrow and Gatwick did not qualify for even one star, scoring 73.4 percent and 60 per cent respectively.
A Gatwick spokesperson blamed matters beyond the airports control for the poor performance saying: “Despite implementing a wide range of measures to improve on-time performance in recent years, improvements to punctuality have been overwhelmed by the scale of wider airspace issues outside our control, including repeated strike action on the continent and heavily congested airspace above parts of Europe and London. Gatwick also has more flights to Europe than any UK airport and is impacted disproportionately by events on the Continent. We will continue to make improvements and invest in new infrastructure to help support punctuality but we also call on UK and European authorities to take urgent steps to limit the impact of industrial disputes on UK passengers, and to accelerate plans to increase the efficiency of UK and European airspace.”
Three UK airports, Newcastle, Birmingham and Cardiff hit the five star marks, scoring 91.4, 90.7 and 90.4 respectively. The UK was the only country that had three airports ranking top on the list, beating France, Germany, and the US, all of which had one while Japan had two. Northern France’s Luftwaffe emerged the most punctual airport worldwide, followed closely by Tillé airport. Britain’s most punctual airline was Monarch, scoring 86.6 per cent, while Flybe was second at 86.2 and at third place, Jet2 at 84.8 per cent.