After publishing a specific Lufthansa Group analysis and a detailed analysis of the Middle East low-cost carriers, we want to analyze Middle East’s biggest flag carrier. Therefore, we selected Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, and Saudia for today’s weekly airline performance analysis. As always, we looked at the flight volume, their punctuality, and the number of cancellations. Here are the results!
Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways & Saudia — Flight Volume Benchmark
Let’s first look at the flight volume that the four airlines operated from 1st to 6th September. During this period, Etihad operated the smallest amount of flights. With only 670 flights, Etihad operates roughly one-third of Emirates’ volume and a bit less than a quarter compared to Qatar Airways and Saudia.
However, and probably even more surprising: Emirates flight volume during the first week of September was around 1,000 flights lower than Qatar Airways’ and Saudia’s. Obviously, the Arab carrier continues to suffer badly from the Coronacrisis.
On the other side, Saudia and Qatar Airways have operated almost identical flights in September so far. That’s again surprising since Saudia led the charts recently. Apparently, Qatar Airways added a bunch of additional flights to its schedule in August and September.
Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways & Saudia — Punctuality Benchmark
When looking at the on-time performance, Saudia leads the list with solid punctuality of 95.5%. However, Emirates is close behind and has achieved a punctuality level of 94.8% from 1st to 6th September. Compared to the EMEA and global average, Etihad has also performed very well and achieved an on-time performance of 90.1%. Nevertheless, many of the top players operate at a level above 95% at the moment.
Qatar Airways, on the other side, disappoints slightly. The Doha-based airline is the only carrier of the four that operated below the 90% threshold. However, from a global point of view, Qatar Airways still operates way above the average.
Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways & Saudia — Regularity Benchmark
Despite its week-on-time performance, Qatar Airways leads the field in terms of regularity. From 1st to 6th September, Qatar Airways had to cancel only 0.2% of its flights. Based on a regularity result of 99.6%, Emirates is close behind.
Etihad achieved a regularity of 97.3% during the monitored period. However, in total numbers, Etihad had to cancel 19 flights. Saudia, on the other side, disappoints massively in this field. The Saudi Arabian flag carrier had to cancel more than 10% of its scheduled flights during the six days. In total numbers, Saudia had to cancel almost 280 flights from 1st to 6th September.
What’s Your Opinion?
We are always happy to receive your feedback. Leave us a comment or get in touch with the author on social media.
