If your New Year's resolution for 2019 is to waste less time, here's some news that could help. Travel analyst OAG has just revealed its Punctuality League for 2019, naming the airlines and airports with the world's best timekeeping. If you've ever spent hours drifting around duty free or sitting forlornly on your suitcase, this could be the first good news of the year -- at least if you're flying in Latin America. Drawing on full-year data from 58m flight records in 2018 -- the most OAG has ever tracked in a single year -- the UK-based analyst has created a ranking of the best on-time performance for the world's largest airlines and airports. Its definition of on-time performance, or OTP, is flights that arrive or depart within 15 minutes of their scheduled times. The most punctual airline in the world -- with 89.79% of flights on time -- is Latin American airline Copa Airlines. It's headquartered in Panama City airport, which was also named the world's most punctual medium-sized airport. Story has more results.<br/>
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New data surveying the ranks of top-tier frequent flyers suggests that due to program changes in 2019, 20% are at risk of not qualifying for the same tier of elite status. Airline elite status is typically earned when a frequent flyer spends enough time in the air — and money on the airline — to receive a select tier of perks in return. On American, Delta, and United, the lowest tier of elite status is earned after flying 25,000 miles and spending $3,000. The data comes from an informal social media survey conducted of top-tier Executive Platinum elites on American Airlines. Ramon Kolb, an Executive Platinum member on the airline and a data hobbyist, collected and parsed the results from over 200 anonymous participants. Of the data collected, 20% of top-tier AAdvantage passengers flying in 2018 spent less than $15,000 on the carrier. Late in the year, both American and United changed the spend requirements for earning top-tier status; in 2019, top-tier passengers need to fly 100,000 miles and spend $15,000 instead of $12,000 to earn the same top Executive Platinum or 1K status, respectively. Should passengers’ travel habits stay the same, the survey suggests that the top tier of AAdvantage and Mileage Plus ranks will shrink by 20% by the time the 2020 travel year starts.<br/>
A German labour union is calling on security staff at Berlin's two airports to stage a strike Monday amid ongoing pay negotiations. The ver.di union said Saturday it's urging workers to join a four-hour walkout starting at 5 a.m. (0400 GMT) that is likely to cause disruptions for airline passengers. The strike will affect both the capital's Tegel and Schoenefeld airports. Ver.di says employers "provoked" the strike by offering a pay increase of 2% over two years. The union wants hourly pay for all workers conducting security checks to rise to 20 ($22.81) euros. The employers association BDLS says this could amount to an increase of 30% in some cases.<br/>
Thailand’s most powerful tropical storm in decades has weakened after strong wind and flash floods disrupted oil production and flights, leaving thousands of tourists stranded near the nation’s southern beaches. Wind from tropical storm Pabuk slowed to 55 kilometers per hour (34 mph) from 65 kph Saturday before crossing the peninsula to the Andaman Sea at 9 a.m. Bangkok time, the Meteorological Department said. Bangkok Airways resumed flying on Saturday between Bangkok and Koh Samui to pick up stranded passengers after suspending flights on Friday, according to an airline statement. The storm disrupted the peak period for the Thai tourism industry, which makes up for about a quarter of the country’s economy. Overseas visitor numbers had only just recovered after a slump following a tour boat accident off Phuket in July that killed dozens of Chinese holidaymakers.<br/>
Crews worked Sunday to restore power after windstorms pummelled parts of Washington state and Oregon over the weekend and left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, officials said. The storm brought winds that registered gusts of about 60 mph (96 kph) at Sea-Tac Airport in Washington, the National Weather Service in Seattle said. Alaska Airlines said it grounded all its flights between 4:20 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. Sunday after a power outage in the Seattle area, where its operations are based. Airline spokeswoman Oriana Branon said the power went out around 3:30 a.m. and came back on about an hour and a half later. She said 27 flights were delayed and five were cancelled. Inconvenienced customers were being offered compensation on a case by case basis, she said.<br/>
Health officials say testing shows the water at Cleveland's airport is safe after six passengers became ill on a Frontier Airlines flight to Florida earlier this week. The city of Cleveland says results that came back Thursday show no concerns with the airport's drinking fountains and its water supply. Officials decided to shut down the drinking fountains and test the water after Frontier reported that the sick passengers might have used one before the flight. Health officials removed those passengers and held them for observation after their plane landed Tuesday at Tampa International Airport. Authorities haven't provided information on the symptoms passengers were experiencing or their conditions.<br/>
Dubai International Airport’s monthly passenger numbers dropped in November, leaving the world’s busiest airport for international travellers needing a record month to meet its full-year target. The number of passengers using the airport fell 0.8 percent to 6.9m in November, said operator Dubai Airports on Sunday. For the first 11 months of the year, 81.4m passengers have used the airport, up 1.3%. That means the airport needs a record 8.9m passengers in December to meet its previously stated full-year target of 90.3m. The highest number of passengers to travel through Dubai airport in a single month was 8.37m in August 2018. Dubai airport has seen the rate of passenger traffic growth slow this year after 15 years of strong increases.<br/>
Israel plans to open its second international airport, Eilat Ramon, on Jan. 22. Situated at the southern tip of the country and serving the popular Red Sea resort of Eilat, the new airport will have an initial annual capacity of 2 million passengers, with expansion allowing that figure to rise to 4.2m by 2030 as demand increases. The opening will see Israeli domestic services from Tel Aviv and Haifa moving from the existing Eilat City airport, while foreign carriers will gradually switch from Ovda, a joint military and civil airfield. With a single 3,600 m (11,811 ft.) runway, Eilat Ramon will have nine apron parking spots for narrowbody or widebody aircraft, plus four spots for turboprops, which are typically used on domestic flights by Israir and Arkia. There will also be cargo facilities at the new airport, which lies 18 km from the city, compared to 60 km for Ovda. <br/>
Airbus has been chasing deals with leasing companies in recent weeks to try to narrow a gap in orders against rival Boeing, while industry experts took a somewhat more sanguine view on 2018 deliveries after shares took a beating. The outcome of the recent leasing talks could affect a tighter-than-expected race for orders in 2018, though Airbus is relying on a recent burst of orders for a newly acquired Canadian jet program and lags Boeing on a like-for-like basis. The last-minute order flurry complicates a jigsaw of data awaited by investors as uncertainty lingers over whether Airbus met its crucial aircraft delivery target for 2018 - a reliable guide to profits and a barometer of supply chain tensions. Industry sources have said Airbus was unlikely to meet the 800-jet goal (782 excluding the Canadian A220), but others said Airbus could still spring a surprise after workers delivered jets late on Dec. 31 that had not been expected to make the cut. Bloomberg reported Thursday that Airbus had delivered more than 790 and fewer than 800 aircraft in 2018. In a new year message to staff, planemaking chief and designated chief executive Guillaume Faury sounded upbeat on 2018 but warned industrial execution and quality must improve. Airbus is due to announce commercial data on Jan. 11, but without the fanfare of an annual news conference that for years featured outspoken former sales chief John Leahy as the company reins in communication before its full results, due on Feb 14.<br/>
Private equity firm Apollo Global Management is working on an offer to acquire General Electric’s aircraft leasing operations, which are worth as much as $40b, people familiar with the matter said Friday. Apollo’s bid comes as GE’s new CEO, Larry Culp, is battling to restore profits and slash debt after the industrial conglomerate lost $22.8b in Q3, mostly from its ailing power unit. Apollo’s offer could put pressure on GE to also sell the aircraft unit, known as GE Capital Aviation Services. <br/>