At 15th place, IndiGo among world's 20 most punctual airlines: Report

The country's largest airline IndiGo and state-owned Coimbatore airport are among the 20 most punctual airlines and airports globally, according to a report.

When it comes to On-Time Performance (OTP) in 2022, IndiGo is ranked 15th while Coimbatore airport is at the 13th position, as per the report by aviation analytics firm OAG.

IndiGo and the Airports Authority of India (AAI)-owned Coimbatore airport are the only Indian airline and airport, respectively, in the OAG's Punctuality League report released on Wednesday.

Among the 20 most punctual airlines globally, IndiGo is at 15th place with an OTP of 83.51 per cent in 2022. It is a steep jump from the 54th position in 2019 when the OTP was 77.38 per cent.

The list is topped by Garuda Indonesia with an OTP of 95.63 per cent, followed by Safair (95.30 per cent) and Eurowings (95.26 per cent) at the second and third spots, respectively.

Thai AirAsia (92.33 per cent) is at fourth place and Jeju Airlines (91.84 per cent) is in fifth position.

In the top 20 list, IndiGo is ahead of Thai Smile Airways (16th rank), Delta Air Lines (17), Viva Air Columbia (18), Etihad Airways (19) and Emirates (20).

Among the top 20 mega airlines by OTP, IndiGo is at fifth place in the list, topped by All Nippon Airways (88.79 per cent).

Japan Airlines (88.07 per cent) is at second place, followed by LATAM Airlines Group (85.03 per cent) and Azul Airlines (84.87 per cent).

Mega airlines are the world's top 20 operators in terms of scheduled flights in 2022.

"IndiGo (6E) has moved up the rankings, from tenth in 2019 to fifth in 2022. India's biggest carrier has seen frequency increase over this period, now operating 8 per cent more flights than in 2019," the report said.

In the league of the top 20 most punctual low-cost carriers, IndiGo is at the sixth position.

Among the top 20 airports in terms of OTP globally in 2022, Coimbatore airport is at 13th place with a score of 88.01 per cent and the cancellation rate was only 0.54 per cent.

The list is topped by Japan's Osaka international airport (Itami) with an OTP of 91.45 per cent.

"Japan, known for being a nation which is always on-time, dominates with ten Japanese airports included in the top 20 most punctual global airports," the report said.

Among the 10 most punctual airports in the Asia Pacific region, Coimbatore airport, located in Tamil Nadu, is at 10th place.

"Average OTP for these ten airports is high, sitting at 89.53 per cent... The airports range in size from Tokyo Haneda (HND), the largest with 83.5 m seats in 2022, to Coimbatore (CJB), the smallest with 3.1 m seats in 2022," the report said.

As per OAG, the definition of OTP is flights that arrive or depart within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival or departure times.

Cancellations are included within the OTP calculations and are counted as late flights.

An airline's OTP is calculated on the basis of arrivals data, while both departures and arrivals data are taken into consideration for an airport's OTP.