The best low-cost airline in the world is in South Africa

FlySafair (aka Safair) has once again been named the most on-time low-cost carrier in the world. It also claims the crown as the most on-time carrier in Africa and the Middle East.

According to the latest data from aviation analytics company Cirium, FlySafair dominates the Low-Cost category rankings, with an on-time performance (OTP) of 96.67% in March.

Cirium said this was the highest performance score among all carriers across all regions and categories.

The best low-cost airline in the world is in South Africa. Credit: Luke Fraser Lifestyle - Businesstech

“Since August 2023, the low-cost airline (FlySafair) has been the unrivalled leader in the Low-Cost category,” said Cirium.

Brazilian airline Gol came second (OTP of 88.62%), followed by Norwegian Air Shuttle (88.34%).

FlySafair also ranked number one in the Middle East and Africa.

“Middle East & Africa witnessed a 12% surge in the number of flights cancelled in March. The region had1,950 flights cancelled compared to 1,739 last month,” said Cirium.

Oman Air, which recently beat FlySafair in the category in the Cirium’s annual On-Time Performance Review, came in second place, with an OTP of 93.32%.

Royal Jordanian climbed from seventh to third in March, with an OTP of 89.68%.

Across global airlines, Qatar Airways came out top with an OTP of 87.36%, followed by newcomer Pegasus Airlines from Turkey (87.14%) and Colombia’s Avianca (87.05%).

Singapore Airlines (88.31%) was named number one in the Asia Pacific Region, Delta Air Lines (85.54%) in North America, Austrian (90.37%) in Europe, and Copa Airlines (90.26%) in Latin America.

Airports

Despite not ranking as high as FlySafair, Cape Town International Airport also featured in the Airport category.

Cape Town International Airport has been named the 13th most on-time small airport, with on-time departures (OTD) at 89.27%.

On the top end of the scale, Taiwan’s Taipei Songshan Airport (OTD of 93.61%) takes the crown, followed by Hawaii’s Kona International Airport (91.71%) and Ecuador’s Jose Joaquin de Olmedo (91.71%).

For large airports, Peru’s Jorge Chavez International Airport (89.41%) came out top, while Panama’s Tocumen International Airport (91.65%) topped the list for medium airports.

Credit: Luke Fraser - Businesstech - LIFESTYLE

23 Apr 2024