Which airline and airport will be the most punctual in the world in 2024?
New data released at the start of the new year provides some answers.
Aeromexico is proving to be the global winner, according to data released Thursday by aviation analytics firm Cirium.
In 2024, nearly 87% of the Mexico City-based airline’s flights arrived at their destinations on time.
Cirium said Air Mexico was followed by Delta Air Lines, the U.S. airline with the highest on-time performance last year.
Here’s a quick look at the top-performing airlines and the largest airports with the best on-time performance, including one of America’s most popular resort cities.
The most punctual airlines of 2024
To calculate the world’s best-performing airlines, Cirium follows a widely recognized industry standard: the percentage of flights that arrive at their destination within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.
Here is the ranking of global airlines:
- Aeromexico (86.7%)
- Saudi Arabian Airlines (86.3%)
- Delta Air Lines (83.5%)
Notably, Panama City-based Copa Airlines actually performed better than Aeromexico, with 88% of its flights arriving on time. However, Copa technically doesn’t meet Cirium’s global network ranking criteria, although the Star Alliance airline does take the crown among Latin American airlines.
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America’s most punctual airline
U.S. airlines with the best on-time performance in 2024 include:
- delta
- United Airlines (80.9%)
- Alaska Airlines (79.3%)
Delta remains the highest among U.S. airlines despite a CrowdStrike global technical glitch that sent the airline into meltdown in mid-July, causing the Atlanta-based carrier to cancel thousands of flights over five days.
However, Cirium said its full-year results were still ahead of its closest U.S. rivals.
“Their recovery has been outstanding because one month after the whole issue, they had a 91% recovery rate [on-time flights] August,” said Cirium Chief Marketing Officer Mike Malik.
Delta was the top-performing airline in TPG’s “Best U.S. Airlines of 2024” report last spring. We’ll ultimately have to see how Delta fares when we crunch the numbers again this year.
Rest of the world
Iberia Express, the regional subsidiary of Madrid-based Iberia, ranks first among European airlines in punctuality in 2024, Cirium announced.
Spain’s mainline airline ranks second, followed by Scandinavian Airways, which becomes the newest member of the SkyTeam alliance in 2024 after years of financial turmoil.
“SAS is making huge strides and investments in IT and technology and fleet,” Malik noted.
Japan Airlines is the best-performing airline in the Asia-Pacific region, narrowly ahead of Japanese rival All Nippon Airways.
Read more: Japan Airlines A350-1000 launches first flight from New York to Tokyo: Same great service, amazing new seats
South Africa-based Safair leads the rankings in the Middle East/Africa region.
The world’s most punctual airport
Cirium has also compiled a ranking of the world’s best airports for on-time departures.
Among large hubs, the top three rankings in 2024 are as follows:
- Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH), Saudi Arabia
- Honolulu Daniel Inouye International Airport (HNL)
- Lima Jorge Chavez International Airport (LIM), Peru
Honolulu Airport is Hawaii’s largest airport, an important hub for interisland flights in the state, and the gateway to Asia. It is also the new global hub for the newly merged airline consisting of the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines brands.
Panama City Tocumen International Airport (PTY) is the mid-sized airport with the best punctuality in the world, while Ecuador’s Guayaquil Airport (GYE) leads among small airports, Cirium said.
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