British Airways— Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021
We put together some of the most relevant data about British Airways’ flight performance in 2021: Flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked the airline’s flight performance against regional and global averages. Here’s what’s contained in detail:
- Flight Analysis
- Monthly Flight Overview
- Global & Europen Ranking By Number of Flights
- British Airways Punctuality
- Monthly Punctuality Overview
- Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
- Flight Cancellations
- Monthly Cancellation Overview
- Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate
British Airways — Flight Analysis
We kick off the analysis with British Airways’ flights from February to June 2021. Besides the overall numbers, we also provide details about British Airways’ share in terms of EMEA traffic and the carrier’s ranking compared to other European and global airlines.
Monthly Flight Overview
Having started from a relatively low baseline in February, British Airways has continually grown the number of flights from February to June 2021. However, worth mentioning that the number of flights is still far away from the pre-COVID level.
When looking at total EMEA flights, British Airways’ share has also continually grown from 1.2% in February to 1.5 in June 2021.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,618 | 3,450 | 3,918 | 5,010 | 6,714 | 4,342 |
Global & European Ranking By Number of Flights
From a global ranking point of view, British Airways doesn’t play an important role at the moment. In 2021, the carrier ranked 65th in the list of the world’s biggest airlines by the number of flights. Nevertheless, and in line with the airline’s growing number of flights, its global rank has steadily increased during the last five months. When looking at the EMEA region, British Airways ranks quite stable in around the 20th position. When comparing British Airways’ number of flights to other UK airlines, the carrier ranks second behind Easyjet in each analyzed month.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 2 | 23 | 73 |
| March | 2 | 22 | 70 |
| April | 2 | 21 | 67 |
| May | 2 | 22 | 61 |
| June | 2 | 20 | 57 |
| Average ’21 | 2 | 21.6 | 65.6 |
British Airways Punctuality
In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at British Airways’ flight performance in terms of punctuality. Again, we benchmark British Airways’ results with EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.
Monthly Puncutality Overview
Overall, the carrier achieved solid results in terms of flight punctuality: Besides a weaker performance in February and April, the carrier achieved an on-time performance above 90%. As a result, compared to the average of EMEA airlines, British Airways shows a better performance.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Airways | 82.8% | 90.5% | 85.5% | 92.1% | 90.5% | 88.2% |
| EMEA Average | 73.9% | 85.7% | 85.6% | 85.2% | 83.6% | 82.8% |
British Airways Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
From a global perspective, British Airways ranks in the midfield and first quarter when it comes to flight punctuality. Based on the weak performance in February and April, the British carrier finds itself in position 84 on average. Compared to other EMEA airlines, the results arent’ that good: On average, British Airways ranks 41st.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 3 | 61 | 129 |
| March | 2 | 32 | 68 |
| April | 2 | 54 | 110 |
| May | 1 | 31 | 58 |
| June | 1 | 31 | 58 |
| Average ’21 | 1.8 | 41.8 | 84.6 |
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British Airways Flight Cancellations
In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at British Airways’ flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Although British Airways’ cancellation rate is better than the EMEA average, there’s definitely room for improvement. Again, February and April are the months with the weakest performance. Especially in February, the carrier had to cancel almost 5% of its flights. However, it seems that British Airways has been continually improving its cancellation rate during the last months.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Airways | 4.3% | 1.0% | 2.8% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2.3% |
| EMEA Average | 6.8% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 4.0% | 3.6% | 3.9% |
British Airways Flights — European Ranking by Cancellations
In relation to other EMEA or global airlines, British Airways’ cancellation performance could be improved. The airline ranks 68th on average from an EMEA point of view and 126th from a global point of view.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 3 | 93 | 177 |
| March | 3 | 49 | 85 |
| April | 2 | 64 | 134 |
| May | 3 | 66 | 112 |
| June | 3 | 72 | 125 |
| Average ’21 | 2.8 | 68.8 | 126.6 |
Used Data
The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 280 airlines are included in each month’s analysis.
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