Birmingham airport has been named the most punctual in the world, according to the latest Punctuality League by travel intelligence company OAG.

Over 91 per cent (91.28) of the UK airport’s departing and arriving flights were on time in 2016, beating Japan’s Osaka airport (89.68 per cent) into second place, with Panama City (89.56 per cent) in third.

Birmingham airport operated over 100,000 scheduled flights last year, with its Dublin route being the most punctual service, achieving an on-time score of over 95 per cent.

Commenting on the news Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport’s CEO said,

“To be crowned the world’s most punctual airport in 2016 is a tremendous prize, particularly in the busiest twelve months in our 77 year history.

“This achievement is a result of a team effort by the seven thousand employees and 140 companies operating at the airport – from the ground handlers to bus drivers, fuellers to caterers, and cleaners to office staff.

“We have invested £350m in the last ten years to improve the airport infrastructure and we’re currently working on a further one hundred million pound development project to improve passenger facilities even further. These investments have helped us achieve this award because we can offer our customers an efficient service that makes us proud to be an airport that is easy to get to and easy to get through.

“We work closely with our airlines and handling agents to ensure that delays, which are within our control, are kept to a minimum, and we thank all of our partners for their continued hard work to become the world’s most punctual airport.”

OAG’s Punctuality League is based on approximately 54 million flight records, using full-year data from 2016.

The ten most punctual airports according to the report were as follows:

  1. Birmingham   91.28 per cent
  2. Osaka   89.68 per cent
  3. Panama City   89.56 per cent
  4. Belo Horizonte   88.49 per cent
  5. Cologne Bonn   88.27 per cent
  6. Cape Town   86.06 per cent
  7. Milan Bergamo   85.87 per cent
  8. Perth   85.86 per cent
  9. Bahrain   85.49 per cent
  10. Adelaide International   84.90 per cent

oag.com, birminghamairport.co.uk