Ryanair has been forced onto the defensive following reports of a significant fall in the punctuality of its flights.

The no-frills airline prides itself on its record for good timekeeping – often taking swipes at rival carriers over their poor punctuality – but its January figures point to a dramatic downswing.

Just 81 per cent of Ryanair flights were on time during the month, marking a significant fall on 89 per cent in January 2009.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara was quick to defend the airline, telling The Irish Times that it had to contend with heavy snowfall during a “remarkably hard winter”.

But the numbers cannot fail to embarrass Ryanair given that, less than one week ago, airline boss Michael O’Leary was openly taunting easyJet for its punctuality record.

Challenging easyJet chief Sir Stelios to a wrestling match over an ongoing libel spat, Mr O’Leary said: “Stelios might be bigger than me, but even in a sumo bout he’ll never catch me, because easyJet can’t beat Ryanair’s punctuality, can’t beat our much lower fares and can’t beat boss either.

“It’s time for easyJet to stop hiding the truth and start publishing the facts of their lousy punctuality again on their website,” the controversial airline boss added.

Ryanair also blamed bad weather for its near threefold increase in passenger complaints, which have so far risen from 0.88 complaints per 1,000 passengers in 2009 to 2.12 per 1,000 in 2010.

© Cheapflights Ltd (Creative Commons image: wwarby / Flickr)

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