Turkish Airlines — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021
We put together some of the most relevant data about Turkish Airlines’ 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
Flight Punctuality
Monthly Punctuality Overview
Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
Flight Cancellations
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate
Turkish Airlines — Flight Analysis
We kick off the analysis with Turkish Airlines’ flights from February to June 2021. Besides the overall numbers, we also provide details about the airline’s share in terms of EMEA traffic and the carrier’s ranking compared to other European and global airlines.
Monthly Flight Overview
Despite COVID-19 and contrary to most European and Middle East competitors, Turkish Airlines operated a considerable amount of flights right from the beginning of the year. May marked a challenge months with decreasing flight numbers after the airline grew its number of flights constantly. However, in June, Turkish Airlines was already back on track and grew its flights massively.
The share of flights performed by Turkish Airlines in relation to total EMEA flights had its peak in March when it reached almost 8%. Afterward, the share has dropped continuously. Nevertheless, this —most likely— is a result of other airlines restarting their operations.
| Month | No. Flights | vs. prev. Month |
|---|---|---|
| February | 15,133 | |
| March | 18,904 | 24.9%  |
| April | 20,339 | 7.5%  |
| May | 18,136 | 10.9%.  |
| June | 26,174 | 44.3%. |
| Avg. ’21 | 19,737 |
Global & European Ranking By Number of Flights
According to the above numbers, Turkish Airlines achieved awesome results in terms of airline rankings. Unsurprisingly, for each of the months, Turkish Airlines ranked 1st among Turkey’s airlines. However, the airline was also Europe’s biggest airline in terms of the number of flights in February, March, and April. Furthermore, in May and June, only Ryanair ranked higher. Thus, from a global perspective, Turkish Airlines show solid results and finally entered the top 10 in June.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| March | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| April | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| May | 1 | 2 | 17 |
| June | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Average ’21 | 1 | 1.4 | 12.6 |
Turkish Airlines – Flight Punctuality
In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at Turkish Airlines’ flight performance in terms of punctuality. Again, we benchmark the airline’s results with EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.
Monthly Puncutality Overview
Despite the huge amount of flights, Turkish Airlines has been able to maintain a solid on-time performance. For each of the analyzed months, Turkish Airlines’ results have been better than the EMEA average. On average, Turkish Airlines achieved a punctuality level that is ~3 pp. above the average.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkish Airlines | 79.5% | 87.4% | 87.6% | 89.1% | 86.7% | 86.0% |
| EMEA Average | 73.9% | 85.7% | 85.6% | 85.2% | 83.6% | 82.8% |
Turkish Airlines Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
From a global perspective, Turkish Airlines ranks in the midfield regarding flight punctuality—the same accounts for EMEA.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 3 | 65 | 146 |
| March | 2 | 45 | 93 |
| April | 3 | 49 | 97 |
| May | 3 | 51 | 89 |
| June | 1 | 51 | 89 |
| Average ’21 | 2.4 | 52.2 | 102.8 |
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Turkish Airlines Flight Cancellations
In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at Turkish Airlines’ flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Turkish Airlines’ results in terms of flight cancellations are much better than the average of EMEA airlines. Whereas the average for EMEA airlines resulted in 3.9% from February to June, Turkish achieved a cancellation rate of 1.4%. Moreover, it seems that the airlines have constantly reduced the flight cancellation rate after a peak in April.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkish Airlines | 2.0% | 1.3% | 2.3% | 1.7% | 1.1% | 1.4% |
| EMEA Average | 6.8% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 4.0% | 3.6% | 3.9% |
Turkish Airlines Flights — European Ranking by Cancellations
Compared to EMEA and global airlines, the airline achieved solid results.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 3 | 77 | 142 |
| March | 3 | 51 | 95 |
| April | 3 | 61 | 127 |
| May | 3 | 65 | 112 |
| June | 3 | 69 | 114 |
| Average ’21 | 3 | 64.6 | 118 |
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. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.
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