According to the air passenger rights defense company, which recently published the “AirHelp Score 2023”, which analysed the performance of 83 airlines, despite TAP, Transavia and easyJet being considered the best airlines operating in Portugal, in an assessment that took into account punctuality, but also factors such as user reviews and complaints management, these were not the most punctual airlines.

“If we only analyse the punctuality parameter, we see that the airlines undergo some change with Eurowings, JET2 and Iberia being in the TOP 3”, explains AirHelp.

In the case of Eurowings, an airline belonging to the Lufthansa Group, AirHelp reveals that, despite being in second place in the international ranking, it operated more than two thousand flights in Portugal carrying more than 320 thousand passengers, recording a punctuality of 93%.

JET2, which transported more than three thousand passengers on more than 550 thousand flights, had an punctuality of 81%, while Iberia, which transported more than 500 thousand passengers on 3.5 thousand flights, recorded a punctuality of 79%.

AirHelp also highlights the fourth place in this ranking, a position in which Ryanair finds itself and which, in addition to recording 72% punctuality on its flights, was “the second most popular airline among the Portuguese, having transported more than 5.5 million passengers and operated 34 thousand flights”.

TAP, in turn, was the “worst airline in terms of punctuality”, with AirHelp noting that, “despite the performance data not being the best, it is the airline that the Portuguese favour with the most flights operated and more passengers transported in 2023”.

“TAP transported 10 million people and operated 70 thousand flights, however, only 59% of flights were on time”, indicates AirHelp, which places easyJet in second place, with five million passengers, 32 thousand flights and only 56 % of airline connections meeting their departure time.

Airports

AirHelp's analysis also covered national airports and, at this point, there were no major changes, with the company explaining that Porto Airport continued to lead the ranking, followed by Faro Airport, while Lisbon Airport, in turn, was “considered the least punctual national airport”.

At Porto Airport, where seven million passengers passed through 46 thousand flights, punctuality was 73%, while at Faro, which had more than four million passengers and 27 thousand flights, it reached 72%, the same rate as It was also reached by Lajes Airport, on the island of Terceira, Azores, which had more than six thousand flights and more than 500 thousand passengers.

Lisbon, despite being the largest airport in the country, saw the punctuality of its more than 100 thousand flights, through which more than 16 million passengers passed, remain at 55%.