Cirium: Delta Air Lines is revealed as the most on-time airline in North America for 2019

  • Cirium’s On-Time Performance Review of 2019 names Aeroflot as the world’s most on-time mainline airline and the most punctual European airline
  • Runners-up include All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Delta Air Liines
  • In North America, Delta is named as the most on-time airline for three years running
  • Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines are ranked in second and third place
  • Average on-time performance among the top ten airlines was high at 79.5%
  • Spirit Airlines who didn’t feature in the top ten North American on-time airlines for 2018, achieves fourth place
  • Eight of North America’s major airports feature in the top 20 global airports ranking for on-time performance – Salt Lake City International Airport being the only airport to make the top ten

NEW YORK--()--Delta Air Lines has been named as the most on-time airline in North America in the annual On-Time Performance (OTP) Review released by travel data and analytics expert Cirium.

Both Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines rank at second and third place in the North America category, with Spirit Airlines, who did not feature in the top ten in 2018, achieving fourth place in 2019.

Russia’s Aeroflot has been named as the world’s most on-time mainline airline in the OTP Review. A report that identifies the world’s best performing airlines and airports for on-time flight operations in 2019.

According to the long-running analysis by Cirium, which provides the definitive ranking of the top ten most on-time airlines and airports globally, by size and region, 86.7 per cent of Aeroflot’s flights operated on-time in 2019.

Last year’s winner, Delta Air Lines, took third place in the global category with 85.7 per cent of flights arriving on-time.

Meanwhile, Latin American airline LATAM clinches top ranking of the global network airline category with 86.7 per cent of the flights in its network arriving on time.

The 2019 Review also reveals that the most punctual airline in Europe is also Aeroflot. In the Asia Pacific, ANA takes top spot; Copa Airlines is most on-time in Latin America; and in the Middle East and Africa, Qatar Airways beats Emirates to top ranking.

Japanese airline StarFlyer is named the world’s most punctual low cost carrier with 91.4 per cent of flights arriving on-schedule**.

Cirium’s OTP Review also identifies the world’s most punctual airport, with Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International (SVO) operating the most on-schedule departing flights, with 95 per cent being on time. North America’s global airports dominate the top 20 with eight airports making the list – Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) being the only one to rank in the top ten.

Cirium On-Time Performance Review 2019 – Airlines

Category

Mainline

Network

Global

  1. Aeroflot (86.68%)
  2. ANA (86.26%)
  3. Delta Air Lines (85.69%_
  1. LATAM Airlines (86.67%)
  2. ANA (86.49%)
  3. Delta Air Lines (84.63%)

Asia Pacific

  1. ANA (86.26%)
  2. Singapore Airlines (85.57%)
  3. Thai AirAsia (83.74%)
  1. ANA (86.49%)
  2. Singapore Airlines (85.57%)
  3. JAL (84.47%)

Europe

  1. Aeroflot (86.68%)
  2. S7 Airlines (84.66%)
  3. Iberia (83.33%)
  1. Aeroflot (86.82%)
  2. Iberia (84.24%)
  3. S7 Airlines (84.11%)

North America

  1. Delta Air Lines (85.69%)
  2. Alaska Airlines (82.01%)
  3. Southwest Airlines (81.44%)
  1. Delta Air Lines (84.63%)
  2. Alaska Airlines (83.12%)
  3. Southwest Airlines (81.44%)

Latin America

  1. Copa Airlines (92.16%)
  2. VivaColombia (86.94%)
  3. Sky Airline (86.10%)
  1. Copa Airlines (92.29%)
  2. VivaColombia(86.94%)
  3. LATAM Airlines (86.67%)

Middle East and Africa

  1. Qatar Airways (82.45%)
  2. Emirates (81.02%)
  3. Middle East Airlines (79.38%)
  1. Qatar Airways (82.45%)
  2. Emirates (81.02%)
  3. Middle East Airlines (79.86%)

Low Cost Carriers

  1. StarFlyer (91.37%)
  2. Air Do (90.42%)
  3. Solaseed Air (88.05%)

Cirium On-Time Performance Review 2019 – Airlines – North America

Category

Mainline

Network

North America

  1. Delta Air Lines (85.69%)
  2. Alaska Airlines (82.01%)
  3. Southwest Airlines (81.44%)
  4. Spirit Airlines (81.19%)
  5. American Airlines (79.89%)
  6. Allegiant Air (79.48%)
  7. United Airlines (79.30%)
  8. WestJet (76.48%)
  9. JetBlue Airways (74.80%)
  10. Frontier Airlines (74.44%)
  1. Delta Air Lines (84.63%)
  2. Alaska Airlines (83.12%)
  3. Southwest Airlines (81.44%)
  4. Spirit Airlines (81.19%)
  5. American Airlines (80.50%)
  6. WestJet (80.31%)
  7. Allegiant Air (79.48%)
  8. United Airlines (78.11%)
  9. JetBlue Airways (74.80%)
  10. Frontier Airlines (74.44%)

Cirium On-Time Performance Review 2019 – Global Airports

Category

Mainline

Global Airports

  1. (SVO) Sheremetyevo International Airport (95.01%)
  2. (CAN) Guangzhou Baiyun International Airports (92.52%)
  3. (PVG) Shanghai Pudong International Airport (91.04%)
  4. (KMG) Kunming Changshui International Air..(90.72%)
  5. (PEK) Beijing Capital International Airport (89.15%)
  6. (SZX) Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (88.94%)
  7. (XIY) Xianyang International Airport (88.73%)
  8. (CKG) Chongqing Jiangbei International Air..(88.49%)
  9. (HND) Haneda Airport (88.08%)
  10. (SLC) Salt Lake City International Airport (88.05%)
  11. (CTU) Chengdu Shuangliu International Airp..(87.27%)
  12. (MSP) Minneapolis-St. Paul International Air..(86.84%)
  13. (ATL) Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Internation.. (86.52%)
  14. (DTW) Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County A..(86.08%)
  15. (IAD) Washington Dulles International Airport (85.27%)
  16. (HKG) Hong Kong International Airport (84.90%)
  17. (MIA) Miami International Airport (84.76%)
  18. (PHL) Philadelphia International Airport (84.36%)
  19. (CLT) Charlotte Douglas International Airport (83.96%)
  20. (OSL) Oslo Airport Gardermoen (83.62%)

As the world’s leading authority on airline on-time performance, aviation and travel data analytics expert Cirium has now published its annual review for 11 consecutive years.

It is designed to raise the benchmark by encouraging airlines and airports to invest, ensuring they operate on-time and provide their customers with a best-in-class travel experience, both in the air and on the ground.

Jeremy Bowen, Cirium CEO, said: “We apply the highest level of data analysis to generate our On-Time Performance Review and we’re delighted to announce that Aeroflot surpassed other leading airlines as the world’s most on-time mainline airline.

As Aeroflot has more controls in place over their environment than most, that helps enormously to drive the airline’s operational efficiency. Russia’s successful year continues with Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International airport also winning the top spot as the most punctual airport.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines continues its winning steak by winning top spot to be named the most punctual mainline and network airline in North America for the third successive year; this is a fantastic achievement and a testament to their focus on optimising operational efficiency.”

Airlines and airports which consistently operate on-time and go that extra mile for their customers deserve to be recognised in an increasingly competitive environment and should be justifiably proud of reaching such a world-class industry standard.”

Jeremy Bowen added: “Achieving world-class customer satisfaction and industry-leading product differentiation is about more than just competitively priced tickets and flight availability. When choosing who to fly with, savvy travellers also now consider airline punctuality and operational reliability.

We believe Cirium’s On-Time Performance Review 2019 will inspire airlines and airports to continue innovating to improve their performance. By embracing digital transformation and leveraging data to its full potential, Cirium can help the aviation industry harness its power to improve on-time performance and enhance the passenger experience.”

The Cirium OTP review draws on over a decade of experience reporting on the punctuality of airlines and airports. Cirium has tracked, analyzed and recognised the hard work of carriers and hubs which deliver on their promise to fly customers to their destinations on time.

Cirium’s 600 unrivalled data sources, including almost every airline around the world, means it tracks over a staggering 100,000 flights a day and bases its analysis on an 80 per cent coverage requirement for each category. According to Cirium, an airline’s flight is on-time if the aircraft arrives at the gate under 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time. Airport on-time performance is measured by on-time departing flights.

Using its advanced technology, Cirium’s dedicated team of expert data analysts process 15 million updates a day – 18 times more than the industry average – to ensure the most accurate results with multi-source verification.

This data enables Cirium’s analysts to provide powerful and meaningful insights for every sector of the aviation industry to ensure customers are at the heart of everything they do.

The awards are grouped by Cirium into three areas including Global Airlines, Major Airlines by Region and Low Cost Carriers, and there are strict criteria – for example for the Global Airline category Cirium considers the top 10 per cent of all airlines by size.

Cirium has created a new, prestigious board of elite industry professionals to provide an independent view of the analysis of on-time performance.

Jeremy Bowen commented: “Cirium’s data is used widely by airlines, airports as well as varying companies involved in travel and we are considered as the pre-eminent leaders in this space. For this reason, we are the only company that are transparent and have a board for independent oversight in this area.”

The initial members of Cirium’s on-time performance board include: Luis Felipe de Oliveira, Executive Director and CEO at ALTA (The Latin American & Caribbean Air Transport Association); Henry H. Harteveldt, President at Atmosphere Research Group; and Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO of PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association). New members will be joining in 2020.

To view Cirium’s On-Time Performance Review 2019, please click here.

Ends

For further information please visit www.cirium.com and follow Cirium updates via LinkedIn and Twitter.

Editors’ Notes:

Cirium’s aviation and air travel data and analytics are used by companies surrounding the movement of people and goods around the world. The company employs over 500 technologists, analysts, data scientists and market experts in the UK, US, Europe, Middle East, India and Asia-Pacific.

* Mainline refers to a system of flights that are operated by a major airline and does not include airline partners. Network is a system of flights that are flown by a major airline and include the flights that are marketed by the airline but are operated by a separate airline partner.

** Airlines in each category have different thresholds in terms of flight coverage and capacity which are tracked.

About Cirium

Cirium brings together powerful data and analytics to keep the world in motion. 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, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX.

Contacts

For media enquiries, please contact:
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Contacts

For media enquiries, please contact:
Paul Charles / Michael Johnson / Claire Simpson
The PC Agency
cirium@pc.agency
+44 207 768 0001