Thai AirAsia, Bangkok Airways and Suvarnabhumi airport were among airlines and airports in the world with punctuality performances in a recently launched global survey.
The country's largest low-cost airline ranked eighth of all no-frills carriers in the world with 81% of flights departing or arriving on time, according to the Punctuality League Rankings assessed by AOG Aviation Worldwide. Thai AirAsia's ranking jumped from 19th last year.
Azul Airlines, a no-frills carrier of Brazil, topped the category.
The survey defines on-time performance as flights that are not delayed more than 15 minutes from the scheduled times.
The most surprising result was Bangkok Airways, which entered at fifth place among major airlines in the world and best in the Asia Pacific region, flying with 87% punctuality after being unranked in 2017. Copa Airlines based in Panama led the league.
Suvarnabhumi airport showed improvement, jumping seven notches to ninth last year on flight punctuality at airports with more than 30 million departing passengers. The country's main gateway had 77% of flights leaving or arriving on time. Haneda airport in Tokyo was most punctual with 85%, followed by Atlanta in the United States and Changi in Singapore.
Sanitsuk Klongchaiya, chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia, said on Monday the airline will continue to improve. "We will only improve on our performance in the years to come," he said in a statement.
There were no comments from Bangkok Airways or Suvarnabhumi airport.
AOG Aviation Worldwide analyses an annual report on the on-time performance of airlines and airports around the globe. The latest survey was based on 58 million flight records last year.