Eastern Airways named Newcastle’s most punctual airline

UK regional airline, Eastern Airways has been named Newcastle International Airport’s most punctual scheduled airline for the fourth time in five years.

The airline, which has been operating from Newcastle for over eight years, was again the best on-time performer, ahead of airlines including KLM, Brussels Airlines, British Airways, Ryanair, easyJet and flybe.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) departure and arrival timings data was analysed by flightontime.info and showed that 89% of Eastern Airways’ Newcastle services departed within 15 minutes.  Also during the same period from January 2010 to December 2010, any delays experienced with the airline at Newcastle on average were only 8 minutes long.

Kay Ryan, Eastern Airways’ commercial director, said: “This is a tremendous achievement and is down to the commitment and dedication of our crews, engineers and staff in Newcastle.  Our customers expect reliable, dependable transport and we will endeavour to further reduce our average delay time of eight minutes to ensure we remain Newcastle’s number one airline for on-time departures.”

Earlier this week (Monday 28 March), Eastern Airways re-introduced the Newcastle-Bergen non-stop daily weekday service for the summer season. The airline also operates scheduled services from Newcastle to Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff and Stavanger in Norway, and employs 50 staff in Newcastle.

Check-in for domestic flights with Eastern Airways closes just 20 minutes before departure time, while international services close just 30 minutes before the aircraft’s due to leave.  All passengers travelling with the airline benefit from a dedicated fast track security channel at Newcastle to avoid any queues at security search.

There are no additional charges for check-in or hold baggage and, onboard the aircraft passengers are offered complimentary drinks and snacks.

Eastern Airways, which was formed 13 years ago, initially built its network of scheduled services up the east coast of Britain focusing on the North Sea offshore industry.  The airline is the UK’s second largest regional carrier and has a fleet of 30 aircraft flying from 21 airports in the UK, Ireland, Norway and France.