Catching Up At Airports - The Ins and Outs

While airlines might grab the headlines with their 25-minute aircraft turnaround times, it takes a team effort between airlines and airports to get flight schedules back on track once flight disruption and delays occur. OAG takes a deeper dive into its flight status database to understand more about how airports contribute to or alleviate disruption.

The Turnaround Tables provide the variance between on-time performance of arriving flights and on-time performance of departing flights at the world’s largest airports to better understand which airports might be going the extra mile for their airline customers.

From finding gates for delayed inbound flights to allocating new departure slots for delayed outbound flights, and all the ground services in between, airports play a crucial role in schedule recovery. Those airports which achieve a higher on-time performance of departing flights than arriving flights are those doing most to help airlines return to their operating schedule, which is good for both the airlines and their travelling customers.

While this may be harder at congested airports, it is not impossible. Airports such as Beijing Capital Airport have a positive variance between arriving and departing on-time performance. Similarly, airport size in itself is not a determining factor when it comes to schedule recovery as data for Tokyo Haneda, the second largest airport in Asia, shows.

The Turnaround Tables provide the on-time performance variance between arriving and departing flights at the Top 10 airports in each region, accompanied by observations about regional trends and airports with exceptional performance.

To download the report, please click here