Iberia delivers on

IBERIA and Iberia Express were the world’s most punctual airlines in February.

The principal airline and its low-cost subsidiary Iberia Express operated 92.3 per cent of flights on time in February, found flight-monitoring service Flightstats. Only 55 per cent of flights were on time in 2009 but Iberia is now consistently ranked amongst the top three airlines for punctuality.

Iberia Express heads the list of the budget airlines.

Good timekeeping is at the heart of the restructuring that began when Iberia merged with British Airways to form IAG in January 2011, the   company said.

Nevertheless, Madrid-Barajas airport, Iberia’s centre of operations, also contributes to punctuality.

The airport is not used to full capacity and Iberia now has fewer routes with few connections to over-stretched airports like Heathrow.

Above all, the company said, strikes and unrest stemming from the merger have been overcome:  “Labour problems affect everything,” an Iberia executive admitted.