UK regional airline, Eastern Airways has been named the most punctual scheduled airline departing from Newcastle and Birmingham airports. The independent carrier was the most punctual for the second year running from Newcastle and has previously been named number one on-time airline at Birmingham. Eastern Airways was ahead of airlines including British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, easyJet, Ryanair and flybe. 

On-line aviation analysts, Flightontime.info, released data from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) figures, which showed that over 90% of Eastern Airways’ services from Newcastle and 92% from Birmingham departed within 15 minutes and on average any delays experienced were just 6 minutes long from Newcastle and under 6 minutes from Birmingham during the period of January to December 2007.

Chris Holliday, Eastern Airways’ chief operating officer, said: “Punctuality is key to meeting our customers’ high expectations and to be recognised again for our efforts at Newcastle and Birmingham airports is a true reflection of the tremendous endeavours of our pilots, cabin attendants and ground staff.  We strive to provide the best service possible by setting ourselves tough punctuality targets and will always aim to continue improving our on-time performance.”  

A fast track dedicated security channel for Eastern Airways passengers was established at Newcastle Airport to help avoid queues, ensuring they can check-in up to 30 minutes before departure.

Earlier this month, Eastern Airways introduced more flights from Newcastle to Aberdeen and Southampton and from 7 April 2008 the airline will increase weekday services from 2 to 3 flights a day from Newcastle to Cardiff and from one to two a day to Stavanger in Norway.