Punctuality.

To ensure that flights around the world take off and land on time, airlines, airports, air traffic control, authorities, security companies, and other service providers at home and abroad work closely together. The actual punctuality of flights depends on various factors, some of which are beyond control.

Punctuality in their own interest

Reliability and punctuality are key criteria for customers when choosing a mode of transport. For this reason, companies in the aviation industry have a strong interest in ensuring reliable and punctual flight operations. Disruptions or delays in air traffic have significant effects on the rest of the day’s flight schedule and the entire network: they can lead to delays in subsequent flights of the same aircraft, which may accumulate throughout the day. In the worst-case scenario, they can affect flight operations the next day.

To avoid this, flight schedules are prepared by airlines months in advance and with great care. In this process, they coordinate with airports and air traffic control while also considering personnel capacities and airspace limitations. Based on these plans, the airport coordinators of individual countries allocate so-called “slots” – the time windows for takeoff and landing at a specific airport for each aircraft – through a complex process.

What causes flight delays?

Despite good planning, several factors can impact punctuality in daily operations:

Late or no-show passengers at the gate

If passengers who have already checked in do not arrive at the gate on time or at all, their luggage must be offloaded in accordance with safety regulations. This can result in a delayed departure.

Knock-on delays from previous flights

Knock-on delays are largely unavoidable. These occur when an aircraft is not ready to depart on time and misses its allocated departure slot. As a result, air traffic control must reschedule the flight into ongoing traffic. This means that a small delay can potentially lead to a much larger knock-on delay, preventing the entire daily schedule from being flown as planned. Only to a limited extent can this be compensated by time buffers in the flight schedules.