How to Analyze Flight Reliability Using Historical Flight Status Data: China–Germany Routes

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Dec 02, 2025By DataWorks

Analyze China–Germany flight reliability with historical flight data. Generate monthly OTP and delay rates by route and airline to support planning and operational decisions.

Backgroud

For businesses, airlines, and travel service providers, understanding flight reliability is crucial when planning international travel, scheduling operations, or optimizing customer experience. China and Germany have routes that link important cities.

In China, these cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. In Germany, the main hubs are Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin. These long-haul connections are important.

The plane

Operational efficiency and punctuality can greatly affect planning and resource use. Historical flight status data enables organizations to perform detailed analyses of flight performance, offering actionable insights for both operational and strategic decisions.

Key Metrics to Evaluate Flight Reliability

Flight reliability is generally measured through on-time performance (OTP) and operational predictability. Important metrics include:

On-Time Performance (OTP): Flights arriving or departing within ±15 minutes of the scheduled time are considered on-time. OTP provides a clear snapshot of route reliability and airline performance.

  • We can check delays by looking at scheduled and actual flight times.
  • This helps us evaluate delays based on route, airline, airport, or time period.
  • Ground Turnaround Time and Deviations: Comparing scheduled versus actual turnaround times highlights operational bottlenecks in boarding, baggage handling, fueling, or aircraft servicing.
  • Connection Success Rate: This measures if connecting passengers make their next flights on time. It shows how reliable a hub is and affects the travel experience.

Sample: World’s Top Airlines for On-Time Arrivals (December 2023)

How Historical Flight Data Supports Analysis

VariFlight DataWorks offers more than ten years of flight data. This includes scheduled and actual departure and arrival times. It also shows information about delays and cancellations. Users can leverage this data in multiple ways:

  • OD Market × Airline × Month Aggregation: Look at specific routes like Beijing–Frankfurt or Shanghai–Munich. Analyze them by airline and month to create OTP and delay rate statistics.
  • Flight-Level Granularity: Each flight record has scheduled and actual times. It also includes delay and cancellation flags. This allows for detailed studies of time-of-day effects, aircraft type impacts, and crew-related operational factors.
  • Long-Term Trend Assessment: Looking at historical data from many years helps us find seasonal patterns. It also shows airline practices and hub congestion trends. This information supports better planning and resource use.

DataWorks offers API access, allowing flexible integration into internal systems, visualization dashboards, or predictive models. This empowers users to extract insights tailored to specific operational or customer needs.

Use Cases for China–Germany Routes

  • Corporate Travel Planning
    Businesses or logistics providers can look at routes from China to Germany. They can check how reliable these routes are and find any risks of delays. This supports optimal itinerary planning, connection management, and operational scheduling.
  • Airline Operations Optimization
    Airlines can monitor monthly OTP by carrier for key China–Germany routes. Such analysis highlights operational bottlenecks and informs decisions on aircraft allocation, flight scheduling, and crew deployment.
  • Travel Service and Risk Management
    OTAs, TMCs, and travel insurers can use past flight data to check route reliability. They can create different insurance products and provide proactive support options. This includes rebooking or flight protection services for customers.
British Airways Aircraft on Runway with Distant Spire

Why DataWorks Is Ideal for flight data analyze

DataWorks, a sub-brand of VariFlight, specializes in providing actionable aviation data solutions. Through the DataWorks API, users can:

  • Access flight-level historical records, including scheduled and actual times and delay/cancellation flags.
  • Aggregate data by OD market, airline, and month to compute OTP and delay rates.
  • Perform visualizations or modeling for operational insight, travel planning, or strategic decision-making.

DataWorks offers 14-day free trial access, allowing users to explore data for selected routes, airlines, and periods. This makes it simple to assess flight reliability, generate monthly delay reports, and support both operational and strategic initiatives. Visit [DataWorks website link] to learn more or start your trial.