A data company has figured out which airlines fly on time most often

[January 03, 2025]  Mexican airline Aeromexico had the world's best record for on-time arrivals in 2024, according to an annual ranking released Thursday. Delta Air Lines scored the highest among U.S. carriers despite a computer outage that caused thousands of flight cancellations in July.  

An AeroMexico plane taxis on the tarmac of the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

Aviation-data provider Cirium said in a report that nearly 87% of Aeromexico flights arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival, a widely used measure of on-time performance among airlines.

Saudia, the flagship carrier of Saudi Arabia, ranked second worldwide, with an on-time performance rate of just over 86%, according to Cirium.

Cirium has rated airlines for timeliness for 16 years. CEO Jeremy Bowen said 2024 was a difficult year for airlines due to severe weather patterns and the summer technology outage. The winning airlines therefore deserved credit for getting most passengers to their destinations on time, Bowen said.

Atlanta-based Delta achieved an on-time rate of more than 83%, good enough to rank third worldwide. The next-best U.S. carriers were United Airlines, at nearly 81%, and Alaska Airlines, at just over 79%, Cirium said.

Canada’s WestJet, Air Canada and Denver-based budget airline Frontier finished at the bottom of the pack among U.S. and Canadian carriers, with on-time ratings below 72%.

Other regional winners around the globe, according to Cirium, were Japan Airlines, low-cost Spanish carrier Iberia Express, Panama’s Copa Airlines, and South African low-cost carrier FlySafair.

Cirium said the best airport for on-time departures in 2024 was King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Nearly 87% of flights from there took off within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, Cirium said.

Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, and Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport had the next-best departure records at over 84%. Delta took the top spot among U.S. airlines despite disruptions in July from an outage that followed a faulty upgrade that cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike sent to Microsoft computers around the world.

Delta sued CrowdStrike, claiming the outage cost the airline $500 million. CrowdStrike has defended itself partly by arguing that other airlines recovered much more quickly from the outage.

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