In January, three Spanish airlines stood out in the punctuality ranking of Cirium, the international platform for aviation data, with a high OTP (on-time performance). Iberia even finished first in the world rankings.
Spanish airlines scored well in the rankings for global, European and low-cost airlines. Iberia performed well in the (global and European rankings. Its low-cost subsidiary Iberia Express (European and low-cost rankings) and low-cost carrier Vueling (European and low-cost rankings) also scored well.
Iberia at number one in the world
In fact, Iberia topped the global airline rankings for punctuality in January with an OTP of 87.29%. This means that the percentage of the airline’s flights took off or landed within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, more than 3% better than in December. A remarkable achievement, according to Cirium, considering that the airline also faced operational challenges in January. For example, the strikes of ground staff. As a result, more than 400 flights were cancelled. The strikes affected nearly 46,000 passengers.
Three Spanish airlines in top five European rankings
The European region recorded a significant 25% decrease in the number of flight cancellations in January compared to December 2023. Many companies at the top of the rankings achieved improvements in their OTP scores in the first month of the year compared to the last month of the year, a year of major labor unrest. Three Spanish airlines made up the majority of the European top 5. A Greek airline finished number one.
With an improvement of almost 4% compared to the previous month, Spain’s Iberia Express took second place with an OTP of 89.54%. Vueling took third place with an OTP of 87.36%. Iberia finished fourth with an OTP of 87.29%, up nearly 3% from December.
Two Spanish airlines in top five low-cost airlines In January, South African low-cost carrier Safair remained the category winner of Cirium’s annual report. Iberia Express also scored well in this ranking, with a second place and an OTP of 89.54%. Vueling finished in third place, just like in the European rankings. Hong Kong Express came in at fourth place with an OTP of 84.66%, AirAsia came in at fifth with an OTP of 83.98%.
