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Best airline to China

Ranked on one measure only: how often each airline's flights on China routes actually arrived on time. Not seat width, not service — punctuality, from the regulator's own file.

Most punctual on China routes

China Eastern Airlines

85.8% on time across 2,805 flights

# Airline Flights On time
1 China Eastern Airlines 2,805 85.8%
2 Air China 3,966 83.9%
3 British Airways 915 77.4%

Busiest routes into China

LGW → PVG London to Shanghai (Pudong) (GB–CN) 1,403 flights · 91.64% on time A LHR → PEK London to Beijing (GB–CN) 964 flights · 91.26% on time A LHR → PVG London to Shanghai (Pudong) (GB–CN) 962 flights · 86.51% on time A LGW → PEK London to Beijing (GB–CN) 320 flights · 91.88% on time A LHR → TFU London to Chengdu (Jianyang) (GB–CN) 197 flights · 88.83% on time A

What "best" means here, and what it does not

Punctuality is one dimension of a good airline and not the one most people would name first. It is, however, the only one that is measured the same way for every carrier and published by somebody with no stake in the answer — which makes it the one worth ranking on.

It is also route-specific. An airline near the bottom of this table may be excellent elsewhere; what the table says is how it ran on these particular routes over this particular period. The same list, worst first →