January 10, 2018

Aer Lingus has been ranked amongst the highest performing airlines worldwide for on time performance (OTP). Concluding a year that saw dedicated focus on on-time performance as a result of guest feedback, Aer Lingus has ranked 3rd most punctual airline in Europe, 7th mainline airline globally and 10th of all airlines Worldwide for 2017 with an OTP score of 84.46% by global provider of digital flight information, OAG.

The OAG results are based on 57 million flight records using a full year of data from 2017 to create a ranking of the best on-time performance (OTP) for the world’s largest airlines and airports.

The high ratings are a result of Aer Lingus’ persistent focus and delivery of on-time performance across each month of the year and which has been a cornerstone of its guest experience strategy. Having listened to guest feedback via the ‘Voice of the Guest’ survey Aer Lingus understands that arriving on time is the single most important factor to its guests.

The elevation of Aer Lingus to becoming a Top 10 ranked global airline for OTP has been based on a 2 year focused strategy of Operational transformation which has seen major contributions & major changes from all of the key staff groupings within the airline. This process of operational transformation has been enhanced with investments in new technology and global communication and control systems.

Speaking on the results Mike Rutter, Aer Lingus Chief Operating Officer said:

“Our guests remind us again and again through our Voice of the Guest, that on-time performance is what they value highest when travelling with Aer Lingus. I am delighted we have ranked so highly amongst leading airlines globally. It is a testament to our dedication to our guests and our increased focus on implementing real improvements on board.

Two years ago we set out to transform our OTP performance and aimed to take our place among the leading global players. I would like to thank all our Aer Lingus staff for the hard work and effort they have invested to produce this outcome. I would also like to thank our guests who have helped us deliver on time flights by co-operating with all our boarding and check-in processes. In addition to this global accolade we remain the most punctual major airline at our main base in Dublin, as well as regularly topping the major airline charts at London Heathrow.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Qualifying criteria;

To qualify for inclusion in the Punctuality League, the OAG schedules database must have flight status data for at least 80% of all scheduled flights operated by an airline or for an airport.

 • OAG’s definition of on-time performance (OTP) is flights that arrive or depart within 14 minutes and 59 seconds (under 15 minutes) of their scheduled arrival/departure times.

• Cancellations are also included.

• Airports must have a minimum of 2.5m departing seats to be included in the report.

• The threshold for airlines is ranked among the Top 250 airlines by annual Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs). Airline OTP is for arrivals only.

• In this report, a ‘record’ is defined as a flight for which we either have a ‘code’, or an actual time of arrival (and departure in the case of airports), and includes cancelled services.

• OTP data is not included for other categories of flights, such as charter or non-passenger operations.