Istanbul airports lead Europe in departure punctuality, Turkish Airlines shares top spot

Istanbul's two main airports ranked first and second in departure punctuality among Europe's 20 busiest airports, while Turkish Airlines Group shared the top position among major carriers, according to EUROCONTROL data.

Istanbul Airport recorded an on-time departure rate of 81% during the week of July 13-19, followed by Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport at 78%, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation said in its weekly network performance report.

Copenhagen Airport ranked third with 76%, while Oslo and Antalya airports each recorded a rate of 75%.

Among the network's 20 busiest airline groups, Turkish Airlines Group and SAS Group posted the joint-highest on-time arrival rate of 85%.

Turkish Airlines recorded an average air traffic flow management delay of 1.37 minutes per flight, compared with 2.37 minutes for SAS.

Pegasus Airlines shared fourth place with an arrival punctuality rate of 78%, behind Iberia Group at 79%.

Turkish Airlines also set a new daily traffic record during the week, surpassing a previous high recorded earlier this year, according to the report.

The European aviation network handled an average of 36,201 flights per day during the period, up 1.9% from the corresponding week last year.

Network-wide arrival punctuality stood at 69%, while departure punctuality was 63%.

A total of 63,957 flights, representing 25% of all flights, were affected by air traffic flow management restrictions.