Domestic airlines' punctuality improves in eight months

The waiting lounge for passengers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The rate of delayed or cancelled flights operated by domestic airlines in the first eight months of the year was lower than the world average of 25 percent.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, the on-time performance (OTP) rate of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget carriers Vietjet and Jetstar Pacific reached over 83.5 percent.

In the period, the airlines operated a total of 202,304 flights, a year-on-year increase of 9.1 percent.

Vietnam Airlines was reported to have run 87,555 flights, 12 percent of which were delayed. Vietjet Air operated 80,767 flights with 17 percent delayed while Jetstar Pacific ran 24,598 flights, with 20.8 percent delayed.

Delayed flights are frequent in aviation, which is a priority for safety.

Experts said this is the area that does not allow any compromise to take off or land in unsafe conditions.

According to FlightStats, which provides flight status and airport information to mobile web and application developers around the world, traditional and low cost carriers had the highest rate of delayed flights in August such as Air China (37.64 percent), Cathay Pacific (38.16 percent), Air Canada (35.13 per cent), Air India (33.23 percent) and United Airlines (25.31 percent), and even airlines rated with good services such as Asiana Airlines and Lufthansa fell short.-VNA