Brisbane achieved 86.71 per cent of arrivals and departures within 15 minutes of the schedule, according to air travel intelligence company OAG's Punctuality League 2016 report.

It was a slight drop from 2015, when Brisbane Airport had an 88.31 per cent on time performance (OTP), which had it in fourth place for airports with 10-to-20 million departing seats per annum.

But the three airports that ranked ahead of Brisbane in 2015 – Copenhagen, Moscow Sheremetyevo and Helsinki – have all slipped out of the top five.

Taking their places ahead of Brisbane was top-ranked Surabaya (90.3 per cent OTP), second-placed Honolulu (87.53 per cent OTP), Salt Lake City in third (87.2 per cent OTP) and Brasilia in fourth (87.07 per cent OTP).

Elsewhere in Queensland, Cairns was ranked the world's seventh-most efficient small airport, servicing  2.5-to-5 million departing passengers a year.

Last year, under a different category range, Cairns ranked 13th in airports under 10 million departing seats per year.

Brisbane Airport Corporation head of corporate relations Rachel Crowley said the strong global ranking was the result of "a great deal of hard work and co-operation" between BAC, its airline partners and AirServices Australia.

"With several hundred flights a day, keeping the overwhelming majority on-time is something we're very proud of," she said.

Ms Crowley said the $1.3 billion parallel runway, which was due to be completed in 2020, would likely add to the airport's efficiency.

"With the doubling of system capacity that the new parallel runway will bring we would expect, particularly in the initial years of its operation, to also see very good, and even better, OTP," she said.

"There are so many variables involved in making sure a flight departs on time that it's almost impossible to achieve 100 per cent OTP.

"Brisbane's average, in the mid-80 per cent, is close to as good as you can get at an airport handling around 700 flights a day off one main runway.

"The biggest challenges are always weather, which can throw out a whole day's schedule and this drives the average down.

"Though, of course, any single flight may be delayed for a myriad of other reasons – including late connections, baggage handling, mechanical issues etc."

Further north, Cairns Airport corporate communications manager Helen Laird said the airport was proud to make the top 10 in the small airports category, for airports that serviced 2.5-to-5 million departing passengers a year.

"Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this excellent result which saw us record the best on time performance of any Australian airport at 87.23 per cent," she said.

"This achievement reflects well on the airport's overall functionality and the positive relationship with our airline partners and service providers that helps ensure the most efficient ground handling and aircraft turnaround time.

"We continually monitor our operations and wherever possible we introduce improvements to grow the airport's efficiencies to help increase our on time performance and the level of customer service we offer our passengers and aviation partners."

Senior OAG analyst John Grant said the on-time performance would continue to be crucial to the aviation sector's success going forward.

"This year's report draws upon the largest ever number of flights tracked in a single year," he said.

Perth (85.86 per cent OTP) and Adelaide (84.9 per cent OTP) both made the top 10 in the medium-sized airport category, for airports with between 5 million and 10 million departing passengers a year.

Sydney (81.81 per cent OTP) was the 13th-ranked major airport (more than 20 million departing passengers a year), well below top-rated Tokyo Haneda (87.49 per cent OTP) and Sao Paulo Guarulhos (85.28 per cent OTP).