British Airways has just received its best punctuality results since January 1994.

Up to 87 per cent of British Airways aircraft departed within 15 minutes of their scheduled flight times last month, and two thirds of its planes departed exactly on time.

The figures refer to the punctuality of the whole British Airways fleet, including franchises, during November 2001.

Geoff Want, General Manager Operations at British Airways, said: “This is a fantastic effort by the company which could not have been achieved without a considerable effort from all the airline’s operational departments.

“The result is especially encouraging considering what the business has been through since the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

“We are operating in a different environment and there have been many pressures on staffing too, so I think November’s punctuality is a great achievement for us all.

“This level of performance will be welcomed by our customers, and is important for our delivery of excellent customer service which is essential if we are to stay ahead of the competition in the future.

“Although the feedback we have been getting about our punctuality is very good, we must strive to continue this in the future.

“Industry-wide performance data is not yet available, but we expect this level of performance to put us up among the best.”

The figure includes factors such as bad weather and air traffic control delays and is produced by British Airways’ Operations Control at the end of every month.

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