Flights to the Canary Islands: Two routes lead the way in punctuality

The route from Lanzarote to Santiago de Compostela had the most punctual departures from the Canary Islands in October. In terms of flight punctuality, it leads the way in terms of average deviation; however, another route leads the way in terms of the proportion of on-time departures. Teneriffa News analysed the departures route by route.

Gran Canaria to Hamburg brings up the rear this month. The 33 flights departed an average of 32 minutes and 2 seconds late. The on-time departure rate – that is, the proportion of departures with a delay of no more than 15 minutes – stood at just 57.6 per cent. In August, another route to Germany – Tenerife South to Düsseldorf – had also finished bottom of the route rankings.

The Lanzarote to Santiago de Compostela route leads the field on minutes. Performance on this route has improved compared with the previous month: at that time, its aircraft took off an average of six minutes late, whilst the on-time performance rate stood at 82.8 per cent and has since risen by 10.1 points. However, the routes leading the rankings on minutes and on on-time performance are not the same.

Canary Islands: The most punctual flight routes in October

On average deviation, Lanzarote to Santiago de Compostela comes out on top. On the rate of on-time departures, the route from Tenerife North to Asturias leads the way, as all departures on that route remained within the measurement threshold. Individual extreme outliers push the average up; the rate simply counts how many departures were within the tolerance limit. The fact that these two metrics produce different frontrunners had already become apparent in the analysis of routes within Germany in September: at that time, TUIfly led on deviation, whilst Corendon Europe led on the rate.

The same contrast shows at the lower end. Gran Canaria to Berlin was, on average, 22:27 minutes late, less behind schedule than the Hamburg route, but achieved a rate of just 35 per cent across 20 flights. Next came Fuerteventura to Newcastle, with 45 per cent at 28:15 minutes late across 20 flights, and Lanzarote to Glasgow, with 50 per cent at 28:02 minutes late across 40 flights. One inter-island route recorded the most cancellations: on the route from Tenerife North to Gran Canaria, 5.2 per cent of flights were cancelled.

The first table ranks the top ten of the 180 routes assessed according to their average deviation from the flight schedule. A value ‚ahead of schedule‘ means that, on average, the aircraft took off earlier than scheduled.

The second table ranks the routes according to the percentage of on-time departures. It, too, lists only the top ten.

Canary Islands: Flight punctuality drops significantly in October

Last month, departures were on average 2 minutes and 48 seconds late; in October, they were 25 minutes and 48 seconds late. The on-time departure rate fell from 91.7 per cent to 67.7 per cent.

Conversely, Fuerteventura to Bergamo saw the biggest improvement. The average delay fell from 51:52 minutes late to 19:14 minutes late. The proportion of on-time departures rose from 63.6 to 76 per cent.