Latin America’s Most On-Time Airlines and Airports, by OAG

Which airline and airport in Latin America will give you the least annoying experience? OAG, a flight information provider, has released its On-Time Performance (OTP) Star Ratings.

And the winners in Latin America?

Copa Airlines and Sky Airline.

These Latin American airlines — the first based in Panama, the second in Chile — rank among the top airlines in the world in terms of OTP, with each earning five stars.

In addition, Brazil’s Gol Airlines and LATAM Airlines Brasilia also performed well, earning four starts with ratings of 83.1 and 81.7 percent, respectively.

The worst-ranking airline in Latin America? AVIOR Airlines of Venezuela, which came in with 51.5 percent.

Latin America airports also performed admirably, as Calama (CJC), Puero Montt (PMC), Curitiba Afonso Pena International (CWB), Antofagasta (ANF), Foz do Iguacu (IGU), Porto Alegre (POA), and Florianopolis (FLN) were among the 11 Latin American airports to take home 5 stars. Rio de Janeiro Galeao-A.C. Jobim (GIG) and Santiago (SCL) received 4 stars.

Surprisingly, no airports in Latin America scored the rock-bottom one-star rating (Bogota, Mazatlan, Cartagena, Cali and Santiago, Dominican Republic did score just two stars, however — not overly impressive).

“Today’s travelers are evaluating their air travel options through a variety of considerations, and punctuality is increasingly becoming a deciding factor,” said John Grant, senior analyst at OAG. “On-time performance is viewed as an indicator to judge the quality of an airport of airline – especially among legacy leaders like Copa and Sky. As a result, many Latin American airlines and airports continue to track this critical metric and invest to optimize operations and improve their performance.”

The OTP Star Ratings are measured on the basis of a rolling 12-month period – and awarded twice a year in April and October. To achieve an OTP star rating, the world’s airlines and airports must meet two simple criteria: all airlines and airports must have a minimum of 600 operations a month and OAG must receive flight status information for no less than 80 percent of scheduled flights within a 12-month period..

Considering that no Latin American airlines or airports ever land anywhere near the top of any “world’s best” lists in publications like Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler, it’s nice to see some good news like these rankings. But still, when will Latin American carriers bring themselves up to a world-class level of service? I’d love to see some of these airlines top more lists like some Asian, Middle Eastern and European carriers do!

Source: latinflyer.com