UK regional airline, Eastern Airways has been named the UK’s most punctual scheduled airline. The independent carrier, which operates from 18 airports, has stepped up to the number one spot for the start of this year after it was second overall in the UK in 2007. The airline was ahead of Air Berlin, bmi regional, Brussels Airlines, bmibaby and Ryanair.

Civil Aviation Authority data released from on-line aviation analysts, Flightontime.info, revealed that over 89% of Eastern Airways services departed within 15 minutes and any delays experienced were on average just over 6 minutes during the period of January to March 2008.

At Birmingham, the airline was again the most punctual operating from the Midland’s airport with over 92% of flights departing within 15 minutes and any delays averaging just five minutes for the first three months of 2008.

“This tremendous achievement is down to the sterling efforts of our pilots, cabin attendants and ground staff,” said Chris Holliday, Eastern Airways’ chief operating officer. “Being on time is very important to our business customers and we always aim to provide the most punctual service possible. However, we mustn’t become complacent and we will continue to focus on our on-time performance to remain the most punctual airline in the UK.”

Fast track dedicated security channels were introduced by Eastern Airways at a number of airports including Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands, Birmingham, Cardiff, London Stansted and Southampton to help passengers beat the security queues, ensuring they can check-in up to 30 minutes before departure.

Eastern Airways operates 800 flights each week from airports including Aberdeen, Angers Loire (France), Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Humberside, Isle of Man, Leeds Bradford, London Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton, Stavanger (Norway), Stornoway and Wick.