A RECORD breaking 2011 has bosses at Stansted Airport sky high.

The transport hub had 85 per cent of flights taking off on time last year – its best ever performance for punctuality since The Queen opened the new terminal in 1991.

The data published today (Friday) by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed an 11 per cent increase on the previous year in the number of scheduled flights departing on time.

The UK’s fourth busiest airport also saw the biggest increase in on-time performance of any airport in the last three months of 2011, improving punctuality by 16 per cent over the same period in 2010.

Nick Barton, Stansted Airport’s managing director, said: “We’re absolutely delighted that the latest CAA figures recognise the excellent on-time performance of departing flights at Stansted, our best ever year since Her Majesty The Queen opened the new Stansted 21 years ago this week.

“It’s really important for passengers and airlines to know they will get away on-time with the minimum of fuss.

“The 2011 data makes clear, if you’re flying low-cost, Stansted is the best airport in the UK for on-time performance despite being one of the country’s busiest airports.”

The airport also won several notable international awards last year, including the Skytrax ‘world’s best low-cost airport’ award, the ‘Air Cargo Award of Excellence’, and the UK’s best cleaned transport premises at the Golden Service Awards.