Most On-time Airlines and Airports of 2022 Unveiled by Cirium

Rhea-AI Summary

Delta Air Lines has secured the Cirium Platinum Award for global operational excellence for the second consecutive year, showcasing strong on-time performance amid a challenging operational landscape.

Azul Airlines was recognized as the global leader in on-time performance, with an impressive 88.93% rating. Delta led North America at 83.63%, followed by Thai AirAsia in Asia Pacific, Oman Air in the Middle East and Africa, and Iberia in Europe.

The Cirium report highlights significant recovery challenges faced by the industry, including resource shortages.

Positive

• Delta Air Lines awarded Cirium Platinum Award for global operational excellence.
• Delta achieved an on-time performance of 83.63% in North America.
• Recognition of multiple airlines for high on-time performance indicates industry resilience.

Negative

• Operational challenges included delays and resource shortages across the industry.

• Delta Air Lines celebrates its second straight year as Cirium’s Platinum Award winner for global operational excellence.
• Azul Airlines was the global leader in on-time performance.
• Delta Air Lines led in North America, Iberia was the top performer in Europe, Azul in Latin America, Thai AirAsia in Asia Pacific and Oman Air in the Middle East and Africa.
• StarFlyer was the leading low-cost carrier.
• Haneda Airport was the top performing global airport in 2022.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Azul Airlines has been named as the global leader for airline on-time performance for 2022 by Cirium, the global aviation analytics leader. The Cirium 2022 On-Time Performance Review is the global gold standard for airline and airport performance and it will be published later this week, containing results for all airline categories, more detail and analysis.

Passenger walks through an airport terminal on the way to catch a flight. Cirium, the aviation analytics company, has published its 2022 On-Time Performance rankings, looking at the top performing airlines and airports worldwide. The definitive, world-leading analysis recognises excellence in punctuality by the aviation industry globally. (Photo: Business Wire)

The past year saw a challenging operational environment across the world, particularly in Europe and North America, with many airlines and airports experiencing delays, disruptions and resource challenges. Others continue to emerge from Covid restrictions, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Despite this climate, many airlines and airports worldwide excelled.

For the second consecutive year Delta Air Lines was honored with the Cirium Platinum Award for global operational excellence. This award considers a number of factors including on-time performance, operational complexity and an airline’s ability to limit the impact of flight disruption to its passengers.

Alongside Delta’s Cirium Platinum Award, Azul was the global leader for on-time performance. The winners in the regions were Delta Air Lines in North America, Thai AirAsia for Asia Pacific, Oman Air for the Middle East and Africa, Azul in Latin America and Iberia in Europe. StarFlyer was the leading low-cost carrier and Haneda Airport was the top airport performer globally. More in-depth results are available below and will also appear at www.cirium.com, with the full report due to be published later this week.

An on-time flight is defined as a flight that arrives within 15 minutes of the scheduled gate arrival. For an airport it is defined as departing within 15 minutes of its scheduled departure.

Jeremy Bowen, Cirium CEO said: “Congratulations to Delta Air Lines for its excellent performance in Cirium’s 2022 On-Time Performance Review, getting its passengers to their destinations on time as the sector revived during 2022. Ramping back up operations so quickly after an enforced slowdown is not easy to do and the top-ranked airlines and airports in Cirium’s 2022 On-Time Performance Review deserve their recognition for this well-orchestrated achievement.”

During 2022 airlines had difficulty anticipating the sudden recovery in demand. They had been disappointed on several previous occasions throughout the pandemic, when it looked like demand was picking up, only for it to reverse course in the face of new Covid variants. When the recovery finally came this past year, the industry—including airlines, airports, air navigation providers and other stakeholders—struggled with understaffing and insufficient capacity. Delays and cancellations became issues. In time, however, operations greatly improved as the industry added workers and adjusted capacity. 2023 appears to hold great promise for the aviation industry.

Cirium looks forward to continuing to lead the way worldwide in monitoring aviation on-time performance in the New Year, as the industry adjusts to post-pandemic norms as they develop. The company’s data is designed to provide industry stakeholders with a neutral, third-party perspective, based on the widest and deepest pool of data collected and curated from more than 600 sources of real-time flight information. These include the airlines themselves, airports, global distribution systems, positional data, civil aviation authorities, air navigation service providers, proprietary data partnerships and the internet. Cirium’s on-time performance data is backed further by a completely independent board of advisors, comprised of industry experts with an unbiased view of the aviation sector. The board’s oversight ensures accuracy and proper representation of all the information the company presents.

Global airline leaders were:

Airline	On time ranking	On time arrival	Total flights
(AD) Azul	1	88.93%	279,722
(NH) ANA	2	88.61%	162,370
(JL) JAL	3	88.00%	165,981
(LA) LATAM Airlines	4	86.31%	451,651
(DL) Delta Air Lines	5	83.63%	1,004,684
(AV) SA AVIANCA	6	83.48%	144,525
(EK) Emirates	7	81.30%	137,589
(UA) United Airlines	8	80.46%	789,200
(QR) Qatar Airways	9	78.32%	152,377
(AA) American Airlines	10	78.29%	1,076,100

The top performing global airports of 2022 were:

Airport	On time ranking	On time departure	Total flights
(HND) Haneda Airport	1	90.33%	373,264
(BLR) Kempegowda International Airport	2	84.08%	201,897
(SLC) Salt Lake City International Airport	3	83.87%	226,545
(DTW) Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport	4	82.62%	271,963
(PHL) Philadelphia International Airport	5	82.54%	233,777
(MSP) Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport	6	81.95%	276,346
(DEL) Indira Gandhi International Airport	7	81.84%	411,205
(SEA) Seattle-Tacoma International Airport	8	81.04%	383,250
(BOG) El Dorado International Airport	9	80.72%	273,721
(CLT) Charlotte Douglas International Airport	10	80.68%	457,871

In North America the top ten airlines were:

Airline	On time ranking	On time arrival	Total flights
(DL) Delta Air Lines	1	83.63%	1,004,684
(UA) United Airlines	2	80.46%	789,200
(AS) Alaska Airlines	3	80.36%	243,072
(AA) American Airlines	4	78.29%	1,076,100
(WN) Southwest Airlines	5	74.06%	1,336,888
(F9) Frontier Airlines	6	68.32%	170,047
(B6) JetBlue Airways	7	66.35%	343,673
(G4) Allegiant Air	8	65.93%	117,469
(WS) WestJet	9	59.10%	94,663
(AC) Air Canada	10	54.51%	150,602

In Europe the leading airlines were:

Airline	On time ranking	On time arrival	Total flights
(IB) Iberia	1	85.87%	91,154
(UX) Air Europa	2	84.10%	48,163
(I2) Iberia Express	3	83.80%	35,665
(VY) Vueling	4	82.04%	197,546
(OS) Austrian	5	82.00%	95,708
(DY) Norwegian Air Shuttle	6	81.29%	71,561
(AZ) ITA Airways	7	80.29%	91,841
(D8) Norwegian Air International	8	79.03%	41,215
(AY) Finnair	9	75.16%	45,727
(LO) LOT - Polish Airlines	10	75.08%	85,902

In Latin America the results were:

Airline	On time ranking	On time arrival	Total flights
(AD) Azul	1	88.93%	279,722
(H2) Sky Airline	2	88.74%	27,161
(CM) Copa Airlines	3	88.02%	104,083
(LA) LATAM Airlines	4	86.31%	451,651
(AV) SA AVIANCA	5	83.48%	144,525
(AR) Aerolineas Argentinas	6	82.02%	94,982
(AM) Aeromexico	7	75.83%	113,814
(Y4) Volaris	8	71.61%	187,502

In Asia Pacific the leaders were:

Airline	On time ranking	On time arrival	Total flights
(FD) Thai AirAsia	1	91.56%	66,043
(NH) ANA	2	88.61%	162,370
(JL) JAL	3	88.00%	165,981
(HO) Juneyao Airlines	4	86.65%	88,115
(6E) IndiGo	5	84.11%	561,864
(I5) AirAsia India	6	83.70%	60,882
(NZ) Air New Zealand	7	81.29%	156,591
(MH) Malaysia Airlines	8	80.99%	95,962
(UK) Vistara	9	80.98%	87,901
(MM) Peach Aviation	10	79.81%	56,176

In the Middle East and Africa the most on-time airlines were:

Airline	On time ranking	On time arrival	Total flights
(WY) Oman Air	1	91.38%	29,631
(RJ) Royal Jordanian	2	86.76%	28,887
(KU) Kuwait Airways	3	81.64%	25,982
(EK) Emirates	4	81.30%	137,589
(QR) Qatar Airways	5	78.32%	152,377
(ET) Ethiopian Airlines	6	77.30%	102,571
(ME) Middle East Airlines	7	75.91%	20,654
(AT) Royal Air Maroc	8	72.01%	45,062
(LY) EL AL	9	69.80%	23,274
(SV) Saudia	10	69.75%	172,797

The leading low cost carriers were:

Airline	On time ranking	On time arrival	Total flights
(7G) StarFlyer	1	95.23%	21,894
(6J) Solaseed Air	2	94.53%	27,486
(FD) Thai AirAsia	3	91.56%	66,043
(AD) Azul	4	88.93%	279,722
(H2) Sky Airline	5	88.74%	27,161
(HD) Air Do	6	88.34%	22,187
(6E) IndiGo	7	84.11%	561,864
(I2) Iberia Express	8	83.80%	35,665
(I5) AirAsia India	9	83.70%	60,882
(VY) Vueling	10	82.04%	197,546

ENDS

About Cirium

Cirium brings together powerful data and analytics to keep the world moving. Delivering insight, built from decades of experience in the sector, enabling travel companies, aircraft manufacturers, airports, airlines and financial institutions, among others, to make logical and informed decisions which shape the future of travel, growing revenues and enhancing customer experiences. Cirium is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The shares of RELX PLC are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX.

For further information please follow Cirium updates on LinkedIn or Twitter or visit cirium.com.

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Source: Cirium

FAQ

What award did Delta Air Lines win in 2022?

Delta Air Lines won the Cirium Platinum Award for global operational excellence in 2022.

Who was the global leader in airline on-time performance in 2022?

Azul Airlines was recognized as the global leader in on-time performance for 2022.

What was Delta Air Lines' on-time performance percentage in North America?

Delta Air Lines achieved an on-time performance of 83.63% in North America.

What were some operational challenges faced by airlines in 2022?

Airlines faced significant challenges such as delays and resource shortages in 2022.

Which airline was recognized for operational excellence in the Asia Pacific region?

Thai AirAsia was recognized for its operational excellence in the Asia Pacific region.

What is the definition of an on-time flight?

An on-time flight is defined as one that arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled gate arrival.