SAS, Widerøe and Norwegian among Europe’s most punctual

The July numbers from FlightStats show that SAS Norway was the third most punctual airline in Europe. Widerøe was number five, and Norwegian Air Shuttle came in eighth place.

In July 93.72 per cent of SAS Norway’s flights arrived at their destination on or before the scheduled time, according to FlightStats. Widerøe achieved a punctuality of 93.49 per cent, and 89.74 per cent of Norwegian’s flights were on time. The average for the 47 airlines tested was 77.84 per cent.

Last year SAS Norway started using new technology to improve its punctuality, and it seems to have worked. In 2008 SAS Norway was at 86.12 per cent, seven percentage points lower than in July 2009. The workers who prepare the SAS Norway flights for departure are now suited with a plug in their ear to keep them updated on the progress of everyone else on the team.

SAS Norway offers direct flights to Oslo Airport Gardermoen from 25 foreign and 14 Norwegian cities. Widerøe has seven direct flights to Gardermoen and six to Sandefjord Airport Torp. Norwegian flies to Gardermoen and Moss Airport Rygge from 81 cities in Norway and abroad.

FlightStats Analytics tracks and archives numbers for 150,000 flights worldwide every day.

Sources: www.visitoslo.no, www.sas.no, www.wideroe.no, www.norwegian.no and www.flightstats.com