Stansted advantage: Eos tops NY-London on-time

There are some advantages to fielding all your transatlantic flights to and from London Stansted (STN), the relatively uncrowded airport 34 miles north of the city on the M11. One of them is on-time operations.

To that end, high-end Eos Airlines says it has maintained its ranking for the 21st month running as the top on-time performer between London and New York. Eos’ New York airport is JFK. Its London launchpad is Stansted.

According to statistics published by the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) 69 percent of Eos’ flights operated on-time, that is to say, within 15 minutes of schedule. CAA figures peg American Airlines' on-time rate at 65 percent, British Airways' performance at 50 percent, Silverjet's tally at 48 percent, and Virgin Atlantic's at 45 percent.

BA, American, and Virgin have extensive operations out of London Heathrow (LHR), the English capital’s largest — and most crowded — airport. British Airways hopes that its move into Terminal 5 in late March will improve its on-time numbers. T-5 is situated mid-field at LHR, very near both of the airport’s active runways. That makes for less ground time, and quicker pushbacks.

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler