Philippine carriers receive low punctuality marks

Philippines AirAsia and Cebu Pacific are among the carriers with the world's worst punctuality ratings according to an annual report by the OAG Group.

Image source: Leandro Neumann Ciuffo/Wikimedia

Philippines AirAsia was the 9th least punctual carrier with 58.0% of its flights leaving punctually.  Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific fared slightly worse with only 57.6% of its flights leaving punctually.  

The country's two low cost carriers having poor punctuality marks is also notable because low cost carriers traditionally aim to have a better on-time performance than legacy carriers.  In fact, Cebu Pacific, in its early days of operation, has prided itself with having a superior on-time performance.  In the past, the carrier's home page used to state its on-time rate, which had often exceeded 90%.  Yet, the list of the least punctual carrier also includes Philippines AirAsia sister carrier Indonesia AirAsia.   

Industry standards define a punctual flight as a flight that leaves within 15 minutes of its scheduled departure time.  Delayed flights are not a straightforward thing to rectify for the carrier.  If the carrier causes the delay, it can lose its take-off slot, pay a penalty to the airport, and needs apply for a new take-off slot which can be hours after their originally-scheduled slot.  This will then have a domino effect on the carrier's schedule for the day especially if the delay originally happens in the morning.  

 

Ironically, Philippine Airlines (PAL), whose acronym others have commonly derided as 'Plane Always Late', did not make the list of the world's least punctual carriers.    

Meanwhile, airBaltic and Hong Kong Airlines top the list of the world's most punctual carriers at rates of 90.01% and 88.83% respectively.  Although the list is dominated by legacy carriers, Jetstar Asia is the world's 8th most punctual carrier.  

Source: Daily Telegraph