Global air travel suffered a ¡°turbulent¡± June with a 20 per cent increase in flight cancellations compared with May, due largely to ¡°geopolitical tensions¡± in the Middle East, according to Cirium¡¯s latest on-time performance (OTP) monthly report.

The 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, which took place from 13-24 June, caused the cancellation and rerouting of flights to the key global hubs of Dubai and Doha during June.

Cirium¡¯s figures for June show that regional flight cancellations in the Middle East rose by 200 per cent month-on-month from around 2,500 cancellations in May to nearly 7,700 in June. As a result of this disruption, major Gulf airlines such as Emirates and Qatar Airways only achieved OTPs of 71.5 per cent and 73.1 per cent respectively.

In Europe, the number of flights cancelled rose by 27 per cent month-on-month - from just under 6,500 cancelled services in May up to 8,215 in June. Leading European carriers including Lufthansa and Air France were particularly affected by the situation in the Middle East last month.

Despite these operational difficulties in the Middle East, Saudia was still the world¡¯s most punctual airline in June with an OTP of 91.3 per cent, followed by Thai AirAsia (87.7 per cent) and Azul (86.3 per cent) at the top of the global rankings.

In Europe, Icelandair came top with a rating of 85.8 per cent; SAS (85.3 per cent) was in second place in the regional rankings and then Turkish Airlines (83.8 per cent) and Vueling (81.8 per cent).

Elsewhere in the world, the number of cancelled flights in the Asia Pacific region fell by 5 per cent in June compared with May, while North America suffered a 32 per cent increase in June due to severe thunderstorms and flash flooding in parts of the US.