See list of the most punctual airlines in 2023 – 01/02/2024 – Market

If your New Year’s goals include flying with the world’s most punctual airlines, Cirium’s 2023 annual punctuality results, published this Tuesday (2), should help.

The most punctual global airline in 2023, according to the company’s results, was Avianca. Based in Bogotá, 85.73% of its flights arrived on time. This represents a jump from sixth place in the rankings in 2022.

“It’s an airline that has undergone a significant transformation — it changed its brand and adopted a new business model,” said Mike Malik, Cirium’s marketing director, at a press conference, citing Avianca’s recovery after filing for Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Law in 2020, something similar to a request for judicial recovery.

The airline reduced its debts and adopted a low-cost model, with more affordable prices and point-to-point routes.

Following Avianca, Brazilian Azul recorded a performance of 85.51%, and Qatar Airways had 85.11% of flights arriving on time. Delta Airlines and Iberia round out the top five list.

Aviation analytics company Cirium studies data from more than 35 million flights a year, including schedules, airline fleets and airports, to provide insights into the aviation industry as a whole.

For its annual airline on-time ratings, which have been published for more than 15 years, Cirium examined 600 flight data sources covering the entire year 2023 to determine whether airlines met their published arrival times.

A flight considered on time must be completed within 14 minutes and 59 seconds of the scheduled arrival time.

To compensate for differences in airline sizes and operating models, Cirium considers passenger carrying capacity and the number of regions served by the airline.

But even the best airlines aren’t as punctual as they used to be. At 85.73%, this year’s most on-time arrival rate is about 2 percentage points lower than it used to be, Malik said. The highest in 2022 was 88.9%; in 2019, it was 86.7%.

Also notable is the absence of Japanese airlines, which are generally among the best. Cirium indicated that it is unclear why Japanese airline numbers fell sharply at the end of the third quarter of 2023.

To qualify for the global category, an airline must serve three or more international regions daily. All data is processed with the help of an advisory board comprised of aviation industry experts to ensure accuracy.

Global ranking:

1. Avianca: 85.73%
2. Blue: 85.51%
3. Qatar Airways: 85.11%
4. Delta Air Lines: 84.72%
5. Iberia: 84.38%

Latin America:

1. Copa Airlines: 89.46%
2. Avianca: 85.73%
3. Blue: 85.51%
4. Latam: 84%
5. Caribbean Airlines: 81.73%
6. Sky Airline: 80.57%
7. Aeromexico: 77.48%
8. Goal: 76.63%
9. Aerolíneas Argentinas: 73.95%

North America:

1. Delta Air Lines: 84.72%
2. Alaska Airlines: 82.25%
3. American Airlines: 80.61%
4. United Airlines: 80.04%
5. Southwest Airlines: 76.26%

Europe

1. Iberia Express: 84.58%
2. Iberia: 84.38%
3. Austrian Airlines: 82.99%
4. LOT Polish Airlines: 82.83%
5. Norwegian Air Shuttle: 82.75%

Asia-Pacific

1. All Nippon Airways: 82.75%
2. Japan Airlines: 82.58%
3. Thai AirAsia: 82.52%
4. IndiGo: 82.12%
5. Air New Zealand: 79.68%

Middle East and Africa

1. Oman Air: 92.53%
2. Safair: 92.36%
3. Royal Air Jordanian: 87.51%
4. Qatar Airways: 85.11%
5. Etihab Airways: 82.90%