After a tough summer with flight delays, cancellations, lost luggage, and now even more winter weather-related disruptions, travelers are understandably frustrated. While such delays and cancellations can be necessary for safety, they certainly don’t make travel more convenient. However, not all airlines experience the same level of delays, and passengers might avoid some by choosing different carriers.
Cirium, a company specializing in aviation data and analytics, has recently published its 2022 on-time performance review, ranking airlines and airports based on punctuality—defined as flights arriving or departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled gate time. The rankings were compiled from over 600 sources of real-time flight information and confirmed by an independent board to ensure accuracy.
Air Canada ranks at the bottom for North American airlines, with just 54.5 percent of flights on time. Following closely are budget airlines WestJet and Allegiant Air, with on-time rates of 59.1 and 65.9 percent, respectively. Surprisingly, JetBlue comes in at seventh place, with flights on time only 66.35 percent of the time, slightly behind Frontier Airlines, which has a rate two percent higher.
Leading the pack is Delta Air Lines, consistently holding the top spot for five years with an impressive on-time rate of 83.63 percent. United and Alaska Airlines follow, both achieving slightly above 80 percent, with American and Southwest coming in fourth and fifth, at 78.29 and 74.06 percent, respectively.
Globally, Azul Brazilian Airlines and Japanese carriers All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines took the top three positions, each maintaining an 88 percent on-time rate. Delta ranked fifth globally, three percent behind Chile’s LATAM Airlines, which has an 86.31 percent on-time rate.
Delta also received the Cirium Platinum Award for demonstrating global operational excellence in several areas, including on-time performance, operational complexity, and handling flight disruptions.
Delta’s EVP and Chief of Operations, John Laughter, commented in a news release, “The dedication and commitment of Delta’s team across our global operations earned us recognition again as industry leaders. We managed to operate the most on-time airline during a challenging year and made improvements that will allow us to do even better this year.”
