Iberia Express Redefines Excellence as Europe’s Punctuality Champion and Global Low-Cost Leader in 2024

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Iberia Express has been crowned the most punctual airline in Europe, achieving an impressive arrival punctuality rate of 84.69% in 2024. This distinction also makes it the most punctual low-cost airline globally, as recognized by Cirium’s On-Time Performance Report, the industry’s leading annual punctuality benchmark.

Iberia secured second place among Europe’s most punctual airlines, operating a total of 183,268 flights with 81.58% arriving on time. Additionally, Iberia remains among the top 10 most punctual airlines worldwide, ranking eighth this year.

These accomplishments are remarkable given the industry’s challenging landscape in 2024, which included stringent European airspace regulations, congestion at key airports, labor disputes at air traffic control centers, and a global shortage of spare parts.

“This achievement by the airline makes us especially proud, because, on the one hand, it allows us to offer a good service to our customers and, on the other, it showcases the huge level of commitment of the entire Iberia Express team. I want to say thank you to the crews and the teams directly involved in operations, as well as to all the people at Iberia Express and the companies that have supported us throughout 2024 to achieve this great milestone. We are operating more and more flights, but always trying to maintain a high level of consistency and high standards of safety, efficiency and operational excellence to offer the best possible experience to our customers. At Iberia Express, we face important challenges in the short, medium and long term, which we can only achieve by all rowing together in the same direction, which will surely allow us to maintain these excellent figures achieved in 2024,” said Carlos Gómez, CEO of Iberia Express.

“Punctuality is, without a doubt, what our customers demand the most, and, because of this, we devote all our efforts to try to maintain the high standards achieved in recent years. We are very pleased with this recognition by Cirium, although our objective is to continue improving. It has been a complex year, full of disruptions, which prevented us from reaching the quality standards that an airline like ours is committed to offering its customers. In 2025, we are determined to make even greater efforts, to review each of our processes and change whatever is necessary to achieve excellence in punctuality. This is the wish of each and every one of Iberia’s 10,000 employees, pilots, cabin crew, maintenance technicians, engineers and office staff, as well as our colleagues at the airport, now part of South, IAG’s handling company,” said Marco Sansavini, President of Iberia.

Iberia Group Aims for Excellence Beyond Punctuality Achievements

While the Iberia Group’s performance places its airlines among the world’s best for punctuality, the results still fall short of the group’s ultimate objectives for excellence. To bridge this gap, Iberia and Iberia Express are actively implementing their business plans to achieve these ambitious goals in the near future.

Punctuality: A Defining Trait of the Iberia Group

Iberia and Iberia Express have long upheld high standards of operational excellence, consistently building a reputation for reliability and efficiency.

Iberia has ranked among Europe’s most punctual airlines and the top 10 worldwide for nine consecutive years. Meanwhile, Iberia Express has achieved remarkable milestones, being the world’s most punctual low-cost airline for five consecutive years (2014–2018), Europe’s most punctual low-cost airline in 2019 and 2022, and Europe’s most punctual airline in 2023.

In key markets like the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands, Iberia Express has maintained departure punctuality rates exceeding 90%, further solidifying its reputation for operational precision in these vital regions.

In its report, Cirium congratulated Iberia Express and highlighted the fact that “it continues to be one of the most reliable airlines in Europe. This achievement underlines Iberia Express’ dedication to punctuality and reflects its spirit of operational excellence. This airline continues to demonstrate that affordability can coexist with punctuality. As a leader in European aviation, Iberia Express combines high expectations with exceptional service, positioning itself as a benchmark in the sector.”

Record Performance and Fleet Efficiency

Iberia Express demonstrated exceptional punctuality in 2024, even as it significantly increased its flight operations while maintaining a fleet size of 25 aircraft.

For the first time, the airline surpassed 43,000 annual flights, achieving a fleet utilization rate of 11 hours per day—comparable to the efficiency of ultra-low-cost carriers. However, Iberia Express achieves this level of efficiency within the framework of its hybrid business model, which adds complexity by ensuring seamless connectivity with Iberia’s departure and arrival banks to support the broader group’s network.