After a very challenging quarter, with some record-breaking days at Heathrow, Gatwick and across the network in terms of customer numbers, the third quarter punctuality results have come in

The results show a network ready to go performance of 51 per cent against the target of 54 per cent for Q3.

The airline’s 15 minute performance has stabilised at 79 per cent, for the year to the end of September. This is three percentage points above the all-colleague bonus threshold of 76 per cent. However, this is the measure by which we are compared to our competition and we must all push harder to drive the score above 80 per cent.

The quarter was dominated by a particularly difficult July and August which saw more days this summer disrupted by thunderstorms at Heathrow than the same period for the last three years combined.

Andy Lord, Director of Operations, said: “The quarter is traditionally busy and difficult. We flew our biggest ever schedule and saw record passenger numbers. The weather and ATC restrictions have been more disruptive than usual. Despite this, eight of the first nine months of the year have been better than in 2013. This is thanks to everyone’s hard work and the changes that have been made as part of the operations improvement programme. We know how much our customers value on-time performance and it is critical that we continue to focus on improving further. We have made great progress on reducing delays within BA’s control but have to drive harder to mitigate the external factors that affect our performance

“At this point in 2013 the 15 minute performance was at 75 per cent, so we’re ahead on that measure too. However, we’re only slightly above the bonus gateway target and with unpredictable weather in the final months of the year, we need to make sure we exceed target on the good days to give us contingency on the bad weather days or when unpredictable events cause disruption at Heathrow or around the network”.

For Q4 the network RtG target is 60 per cent. Although this is higher than the Q3 target it reflects our historical performance and the potential benefit of a slightly reduced schedule and load factors

Andy added: “We’ve made good progress in 2014, improving year-on-year performance. Everyone must remain committed to improving further and hitting our targets in Q4 to deliver the performance and standards that our customers expect, and so that we can be proud to say that we beat our main competitors at Heathrow and Gatwick, such as Virgin and EasyJet.

Q3 Results
Network RtG actual:  51% (-3 vs target)
Network 15mins: 75% (-10 vs operational target)

Q4 Targets
Network RtG: 60%
Network 15mins: 85%

Annual Network 15 minute bonus gateway: 76%  (YTD 79%)