Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air has been ranked among the top ten global airlines for achieving the highest on-time performance of its flights for January 2013.

Gulf Air is also among the finalists for the 2012 FlightStats On-time Performance Service Awards for the Middle East region, said the Bahraini airline in a statement.

Releasing the list of global airlines’ on time flight punctuality for January 2013, Flightstats, the leader in global flight and airport information services, has ranked Gulf Air at the eighth position with a punctuality rate of 85.21 per cent.

The only other Middle East carrier in the list was Saudi Arabian Airlines at the ninth position.

Flightstats also announced Gulf Air as one of the finalists for the ‘2012 On-time Performance Service Awards’ for the Middle East region. The awards recognize operational excellence in air travel for all commercial carriers globally and regionally.
 
Gulf Air acting CEO Maher Salman Al Musallam said, "Being ranked among top ten global airlines is a significant milestone for Gulf Air that bears testimony to our on-time performance excellence. Gulf Air has been ranked number one among the Middle East full service airlines throughout last year and we are proud of our consistent achievement of flight punctuality."

"This is an important factor for our customers, particularly our time-conscious business passengers, who have to reach their destinations on-time to conduct their business transactions," said an elated Al Musallam.

To select the finalists, FlightStats examines flight status and arrival data aggregated from global sources including civil aviation authorities, airlines, airports, and major airline reservation systems. The result of the winners will be announced on February 19, said the statement.

FlightStats has been monitoring airlines’ on-time performance since 2004, tracking over 150,000 flights per day, i.e. nearly 80 per cent of all scheduled passenger flights globally, it added.-TradeArabia News Service