February 4, 2020//-GIVT, a company obtaining compensations from airlines for delayed and cancelled flights, as well as in cases of denied boarding (due to overbooking), has published The GIVT Sky Ranking for 2019, which is a measure of flight disruption for airlines and airports as defined by Regulation (EU) 261/2004.
Ranking is calculated on the percentage of disrupted flights per airline or airport. Disrupted flights are flights cancelled or delayed more than 3 hours and are a measure of potentially compensatable flights per airline.
Rank shows, that WizzAir is the most confident airline on the European sky, with the smallest percentage of disrupted flights per airline; Ryanair dominated the market with the biggest number of flights; Scandinavian carrier SAS is the worst carrier in terms of disrupted flights.
2019 – a year of strikes and bankruptcies
Flight numbers in Europe increased by less than one percent, to 7.6 million in 2019 reflecting a difficult market and airline difficulties. Strikes played a major role in 2019 with all airlines in our Sky Ranking suffering strike action.
Bankruptcies were almost at epidemic levels with eight European airlines ceasing operations in the last 12 months. Biggest surprises were Slovenian flag carrier Adria and British Thomas Cook, as well as Greek Astra, Flybmi, Germania, WOW Air, Aigle Azur and XL Airways.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) had a turbulent time in April when 1,400 pilots in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, 95% of the total, went on strike for 7 days causing 4,000 flights and 380,000 passengers to be affected.
SAS does not have the best track record for delayed flights, and this strike did them no favours raising them from 8th place last year to number 1 on our Sky Ranking for this year.
At the end of the Givt Sky Ranking 2019, which means the highest confidence, is WizzAir, second year in a row (with increased number of flights). Another low-cost carrier – Ryanair, is ranked 19th and remains the most popular airline in Europe, with 130 million passengers in 2019.
Number of compensations has increased
Despite all of these setbacks the overall amount of delayed flights reduced down from 1 flight in 257 in 2018 to 1 in 284 for 2019 and cancelled flights down from 1 flight in 81 to 1 in 114 respectively.
Another positive thing is the increase of passenger’s awareness in terms of compensations for the disrupted flights.
“Major airlines are taking the issue of passenger compensation much more seriously. More and more of our claims are being upheld and payments are faster. Customers can clearly see the advantages of using our services.” – said Damian Zozula, Chief Commercial Officer, Marketing at GIVT – a company obtaining compensations from airlines for delayed and cancelled flights, as well as in cases of denied boarding (due to overbooking).
GIVT Sky Ranking – Top 20 Airlines Europe 2019
Pos.
+/- 2018
Airline
Flights
Delayed
Cancelled
Total Disrupted
% Disrupted
+/- 2018
1.000
1
↑7
SAS
295
461
7.624
8.085
2,7
↑0,6
2
↑8
British Airways
352
1.429
5.621
7.050
2
↑0,3
3
↑1
Eurowings
237
568
3.620
4.188
1,8
↓0,6
4
↑10
SWISS
157
203
2.484
2.687
1,7
↑0,1
5
↑1
Lufthansa
618
1.142
9.081
10.223
1,7
↓0,6
6
↓3
LOT
135
597
1.470
2.067
1,5
↓1
7
↓5
Vueling
219
1.333
1.670
3.003
1,4
↓1,1
8
↑4
KLM
259
553
2.711
3.264
1,3
↓0,4
9
↓2
Flybe
164
439
1.656
2.095
1,3
↓0,9
10
↑6
Norwegian Air
220
1.176
1.471
2.647
1,2
↑0
11
↓6
Austrian Airlines
139
157
1.376
1.533
1,1
↓1,2
12
↑5
Finnair
135
197
1.249
1.446
1,1
↑0,1
13
↓4
TAP Portugal
138
783
990
1.773
1,3
↓0,6
14
↓3
easyJet
609
2.802
3.881
6.683
1,1
↓0,6
15
↓14
Air France
445
1.439
3.398
4.837
1,1
↓2,5
16
↑3
Alitalia
196
456
1.069
1.525
0,8
↑0,1
17
↓4
Aer Lingus
110
333
511
844
0,8
↓0,8
18
→0
Iberia
216
354
1.336
1.690
0,8
↓0,2
19
↓4
Ryanair
802
3.440
1.905
5.345
0,7
↓0,5
20
→0
Wizz Air
197
696
310
1.006
0,5
↓0,1
European airports – more flights, one leader
European airports are enjoying a period of sustained growth. Major airports are eyeing new long haul destinations for expansion, with new flights announced every week.
Examples of some of the most interesting new routes announced for 2020 are Alitalia Fiumicino Rome to San Francisco, British Airways Heathrow to Portland, SAS Copenhagen Kastrup to Los Angeles, KLM Amsterdam Schiphol and Norwegian Air Paris CDG to Austin, Lufthansa Munich International to Seattle, Austrian Airlines Vienna International to Boston and LOT Polish Airlines Kraków Balice to New York.
The most confident airport in Europe remains the same second year in a row – Spain’s busiest airport Madrid Barajas stays at 10th place this year, despite ground staff strikes by Iberia, accounting for 40% of all traffic, and increased flight numbers up 5.5 % to over 200,000 per year. On the opposite is Munchen International Airport, with the biggest number of disrupted flights.
