Many delays but few lost suitcases

Air Malta has a poorer record of punctuality than the majority of European airlines but makes up for it by having one of the best records for lost luggage, according to recent statistics issued by the Association of European Airlines (AEA).

A fifth of all Air Malta flights made between April and June this year arrived or departed more than 15 minutes late, the figures show. The airline's performance was slightly worse on arrivals than on departures.

Flights within 15 minutes of schedule were not regarded as delayed but as "on time" by the AEA.

The national carrier ranked 16th on arrivals and 15th on departures in a list of 27 European airlines for which data is available.

The Finnish national carrier Finnair ranked first with 92.1 per cent on arrivals and 91 per cent of departures being on time.

The worst performer was Iceland Air with just 66 per cent on arrivals and 70 per cent of its departures on time.

Air Malta's flight delays seem to be somewhat compensated by a good baggage delivery service, in which the airline outperformed all but one of its European competitors.

Air Malta, is quite safe when it comes to finding your luggage on the conveyer belt following a flight. In the second quarter, it mislaid only 4.8 bags per 1,000 carried compared to 15.6 per 1,000 lost by British Airways, which ranked in the 22nd position.

Air Malta outperformed air giants such as KLM, which lost 17.3 bags per 1,000 and ranked last. Lufthansa also fared badly in the lost-baggage stakes, mislaying 14.2 bags per thousand and ranked 20th.

On this count, Turkish Airlines was the only European airline performing better than Air Malta, even though the airline carried 3.6 million passengers compared to Air Malta's 408,000.