A survey of flight times last month showed that Beijing's airport had the lowest proportion of flights leaving on time among 35 leading airports at just 18.3 per cent, FlightStat Inc reported on its website.
Shanghai was slightly better at 28.72 per cent, but still 10 percentage points below the next-worst performer, Istanbul.
Among airlines, mainland Chinese carriers made up eight of the 10 worst performing airlines. Flag carrier Air China came in sixth from the bottom, with just 54.58 per cent of its flights arriving on time.
Air travel has more than quadrupled in China along with rising incomes and cheaper tickets. Alongside that growth, routine delays, shoddy service and ill-mannered passengers have fuelled an epidemic of air rage incidents, video footage of which is often shown on television.