On-time performance (OTP) is widely used as a powerful key performance indication for airlines and airports. In this blog post, we debunk three common myths about OTP in the world of aviation.
Myth 1#: The smaller the size, the better the OTP ranking
It would be easy to think that a small airport with only a handful of airline operations each hour, or a small airline, has an easier time of getting flights away on time than a large and busy airport or a major hub carrier. However, Panama City, one of the largest airports in Latin America, consistently achieves industry-leading levels of OTP, including 93.9% in June 2025.
- Which airline has the best OTP ranking this month?
- Discover the most punctual airlines and airports in North America
Myth #2: A good OTP is all down to the airline
There are brilliant examples of where airlines and airports work together and achieve best-in-class levels of performance. In June 2025, Salt Lake City, a major hub airport for Delta Air Lines with over sixteen million departing seats and 122,000 flights a year, delivered an 85.1% level of OTP.
Myth #3: Airlines and airports ‘pad’ schedules to achieve a higher OTP
One of the major talking points of airline on-time performance statistics is the practice of ‘padding schedules’, where the time between the scheduled departure and the scheduled arrival has increased as a means of achieving higher OTP.
While this could be construed as airlines scheduling to make performance look better, there is also a case where congestion actually allows a passenger’s expectations to be met. The question is, are airlines successfully managing their customers’ expectations?
In practice, determining the correct schedule times for a flight is not straightforward. Build in too much padding so that flights are always on time, and you might lose one aircraft rotation each day, which has a major impact on the revenue generated by the asset. Build in too little padding and flights may regularly be late, causing a knock-on effect on every subsequent rotation of that aircraft for the rest of the day.
Discover the most punctual airlines and airports in the world here.