Gulf Air ranked number one for punctuality

Gulf Air has been ranked first among major global airlines for on-time-punctuality for the month of July 2013.

Statistics released by FlightStats Data FlightStats On-time Report - July 2013, an independent provider of flight information services, showed that Gulf Air registered an on-time punctuality of 93.04% for the arrival and departure of its flights within 15 minutes of schedule in July 2013.

Gulf Air Acting chief executive officerMaher Salman Al Musallam commented, “A core element of Gulf Air’s restructuring strategy is improving all aspects of our service including our flight punctuality. During the last six months our on-time-punctuality increased by close to 4% compared to last year. This was reflected during this period by the on-time or early arrival of over 20,000 Gulf Air flights that safely delivered our passengers to their preferred destinations. A number of the airline’s divisions are involved in ensuring Gulf Air’s high-level of on-time-performance; specifically, the operations, ground servcies and engineering departments and it is rewarding to see their efforts paying off. We look forward to maintaining this excellent record going forward.”

Furthermore, in 2013 to date, Gulf Air has maintained its number one OTP position among the Middle East full service carriers, a spot it held consistently throughout last year.

FlightStats has been monitoring airlines’ on-time performance since 2004, tracking over 150,000 flights per day, i.e. nearly 80% of all scheduled passenger flights globally. FlightStats examines flight status and arrival data aggregated from global sources including civil aviation authorities, airlines, airports and major airline reservation systems.

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: "Gulf Air's recent earnings shows a dramatic turnaround in the carriers fortunes - while it still has a long way to go before it reaches profitability and emerges as a stronger GCC competitor, to have the highest ranking for punctuality will go a long way in helping them achieve their long term objectives.

He added: "Considering that Gulf Air has also improved its on time performance since last year, the airline will no doubt be more confident that its revised business strategy gives them cautious optimism going forward - but they'll need to match that with better efficiency and much lower costs, especially as the carrier seeks to expand its international footprint and claw back traffic that it has lost to its Arabian peers."