Airlines are fighting a tough battle for passengers. It is particularly important to observe the departure and arrival times, which can be difficult in the winter season. Nevertheless, Norwegian is among the most punctual airline in Europe.
In the winter season, the difficult weather conditions can increase the risk of delays and create major challenges for airlines’ punctuality. In particular the punctuality of airlines is a critical factor for travelers.
In a recent punctuality survey for Europe, Norwegian ranks right at the top of the industry.
NINE OUT OF TEN PLANES ARRIVE ON TIME
Almost nine out of ten planes – 86 percent of flights – landed on time. This is shown by Cirium’s latest on-time performance report for European airlines. The schedule information is for November. Cirium is the world’s leading provider of flight data and covers over 35 million flights per year.
November is the first of the challenging winter months. Despite that, the report shows that Norwegian is at the top among airlines in Europe.
The difference between third and first place is just 1.2 percentage points.
The top 10 on the list of the most punctual airlines in Europe look like this. The numbers behind the airline’s name indicate what proportion of the total flights landed on time:
TOP-10:
- Austrian Airlines, Austria – 87.3 percent
- Vueling, Spain – 86.3 percent
- Norwegian, Norway – 86.1 percent.
- Transavia, Netherlands – 84.4 percent.
- Eurowings, Germany – 84.2 percent
- Iberia Express, Spain – 83.6 percent
- Iberia, Spain – 82.69 percent.
- LOT Polish Airlines, Poland – 82.62 percent
- Wizz Air, Malta – 81.8 percent
- Air Europe, Spain – 81.6 percent
As usual, the 15-minute rule applies in the assessment of the companies’ punctuality. This means that flights that land within 15 minutes of the scheduled time at the destination are considered to have landed on time. This is the global standard for calculating punctuality.
CHALLENGING CONDITIONS
In assessing Norwegian’s position, one must also take into account that the airline operates flights in an exposed part of Europe and faces greater weather challenges than most others on the list.
There are several factors that affect whether aircraft can take off and land according to schedule. The weather plays a big role, and winter weather can offer everything from strong wind, snow and fog.
There are more difficult weather conditions in Denmark and other parts of Northern Europe, where Norwegian operates large parts of its flights. Bad weather often drastically reduces punctuality.
SAS IS LESS PUNCTUAL
Most of Norwegian’s competitors operate the majority of their flights at airports in the southern regions, and they therefore have far from such major weather challenges to deal with.
Norwegian’s biggest competitor SAS is outside Cirius’ top 10 list.
The last time SAS published its punctuality was in connection with the traffic figures for November. At that time, 78.5 percent of the company’s flights arrived on time.
This corresponds to almost eight out of ten, which is also a good result, but not good enough to finish in the top 10.
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