Bad Airports: Worldwide Mess
Statistics Show Airline Hassle Rankings Worst in New York, London
Seniors and Others Are Likely to Suffer Delays in Leisure or Business Airline Trips to Britain or Around US This Spring and Summer Based on Recent Records
Senior vacationers who are looking forward to spring and summer adventures abroad or within the United States can expect serious airport delays to be a likely part of their travels, according to FlightStats, a website dedicated to reporting on good and bad airlines and airports.
A Flightstats.com "news report" released on its website April 7 promises: “Don't expect to arrive on time if your destination is either New York or London as all six major airports serving those two cities are parked at the bottom of the on-time arrival list.”
The website documents March 2008 and Year 2007 arrivals data from the world’s 50 busiest airports, based on numbers compiled by Airports Council International and IATA (International Air Transport Association) of passengers served.
LaGuardia, Heathrow Airports Ranked Worst
The airport showing the lowest on-time performance among the 50 was LaGuardia (LGA) in New York, with under 51 percent of flights arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled time in March. The average delay at LGA was a whopping one hour and eight minutes. Neighboring airports Newark Liberty (EWR) and John F. Kennedy (JFK) were not much better—EWR had only 56.51 percent flights on time, while JFK showed 63.76 percent. For the year 2007, all three New York airports recorded under 60 percent flights on time.
To make matters uglier, both LGA and EWR featured the most excessive arrival delays in March, defined as being more than 45 minutes. Both airports topped 23 percent in that department, with no others even close.
Abroad, Heathrow led the delayed list with only 55. 8 percent of flights on time, even though it is does not handle the most passengers. By comparison, the busiest airport in Europe, Madrid’s Barajas Airport, showed an on-time record of 73.85 percent.
Tokyo Airports Among the Best
A summary from FlightStats.com noted that “You can expect to arrive on time if you're flying into or out of Japan's Narita or Haneda airports. These two Tokyo airports topped the list in on-time performance in 2007.” For March 2008, Haneda (HND) showed almost 88 percent of flights on time, while Narita (NRT) showed over 83 percent. In the excessive-delay category, Haneda recorded a remarkably low figure of under 1 percent, while Narita showed less than 4 percent for March.
Singapore, Munich Sydney Rated Among Top 5
Filling out the top of the charts for 2007 were Changi Airport (SIN) in Singapore, Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUC) in Munich, and Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) in Sydney, all with on-time arrivals performance of over 80 percent. No Canadian airport is mentioned in the report because none is among the world's busiest 50.
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