Austrian among the Top 10 most punctual Airlines in Europe again

• Study: 79 percent of all arrivals in 2019 were on time
• 10^th place among the most punctual airlines in Europe
• Measures taken to improve punctuality are effective

In 2019, Austrian Airlines was once again among the most punctual airlines in Europe. This is confirmed by a recently published study by the travel data and analytics expert Cirium. 79 percent of all arrivals were on time. That means 10^th place in the ranking (see table). “I am pleased, that we are among the most punctual airlines in Europe again. However, there is still room for improvement”, says Austrian Airlines CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech. “Punctuality is as important to us as the red-white-red on our planes.”

In 2018, punctuality was still down on the previous year. The deterioration was mainly due to known problems in European aviation: Congested airports and air traffic controls, increased weather caprices and the resulting rotational delays – in other words, when an aircraft is not available in time for the next flight due to a prior delay. Bottlenecks at some European air traffic controls in particular prevented higher punctuality in 2019 as well.

To increase punctuality, various measures were taken already. Two reserve aircraft were available in the summer of 2019. In addition, Austrian Airlines and Vienna Airport developed various improvements for more punctuality in the “ChronOS@VIE” project. These include automated bus boarding, which enables passengers to get from gate to aircraft more quickly. For certain arriving flights from the Schengen area, there has been a further exit option for passengers via an additional staircase at the rear door of the aircraft since July. In this way, an aircraft can be made operational again more quickly – which also resulted in noticeable improvements.