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The global travel data provider OAG has released its Punctuality League 2023 report that ranks the top-performing, on-time airlines and airports in the world.

Most remarkably, the annual ranking has listed the low-cost South African airline FlySafair as the second most on-time airline in the world.

Claps all around. The cost of domestic travel in South Africa at the moment is not so lekker, to put it lightly, but at least we know we are paying for quality.

OAG analysed flight data during 2022 to determine the most on-time airlines and airports in the world and has recognised South Africa more than just once, reported News24:

FlySafair’s on-time performance of 95.3% got it the second place on the top-20 most on-time airlines in the world list. This is despite operating 47% more flights in 2022 than in 2019. The airline also had a 0.02% cancellation rate.

It was only beaten by an Indonesian airline, which managed to obtain a 95.63% on-time performance. Garuda Indonesia only operated 25% of the flights they had in 2019.

On top of FlySafair’s success, two local airports also made the top 20 on-time list for airports:

Durban’s King Shaka International Airport took the fifth spot with an on-time performance of 89.73% and a 1.37% cancellation rate. The top four positions were taken by Japanese airlines.

Cape Town International Airport obtained the 16th spot with an 87.26% on-time performance and a 1.02% cancellation rate.

FlySafair spokesperson Kirby Gordon said that the airline’s success is down to FlySafair managing all its own maintenance, “which means we have full control over keeping our fleet in tiptop shape, thereby minimising delays due to technical issues”:

“The second factor is a great team with a great culture – a group of people who want to be the best in the world and who know that if they apply themselves, they can be,” Gordon added.

Our domestic travel situation has been chaotic in the past two or so years – Comair and Mango Airlines going down – so this success is certainly worth celebrating.

[source:news24]