It’s official: when it comes to delays, Chinese airlines are among the worst in the world.
Civil Aviation Data Analysis (CADA), a Chinese organization that tracks the on-time performance of 103 major international airlines, released a report comparing Chinese airlines with their global peers. Needless to say, the local carriers didn’t perform particularly well. OK Airlines was China’s top performer at 80th on the list, followed by China Southern Airlines at 86th, Air China at 93rd and China Eastern at 94th.
Hong Kong and Taiwanese airlines fared better. Taiwan’s TransAsia Airlines ranked 65th, followed by Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific in 74th spot. EVA came in 78th.
The ranking of other mainland Chinese airlines were not mentioned in the report. However, with the best mainland airline rated at 80th position in a list of only 103, we can assume that mainland China’s approximately 25 other airlines round out the bottom of the list, if they are included at all.
See Also: China’s Top 10 Most-Delayed Airlines
The CADA report is consistent with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which recently reported that the industry was getting worse with each passing year: before 2009, 80 percent of Chinese flights arrived on time, compared with 68 percent today. Industry observers cited bad weather and increased passengers as the main cause of flight delays.
Things are not all bad if you’re travelling in Asia and looking for an airline that’s on-time. The number-one ranked airline for on-time service was Thailand’s Nok Air, rated at 99 percent. Other Asian airlines in the top ten included Japan Airlines at 4th and All Nippon Airways at 6th position.