The North American airline on-time arrival average in June dropped to 65.7 percent from 71 percent in May, according to a new Cirium report. Nine out of the 10 carriers included in the report showed declines, with only Frontier Airlines improving to a 70.3 percent performance compared with 66.5 percent in May.
Alaska Airlines took the top spot at 80.1 percent, followed by Delta Air Lines at 79.4 percent. United Airlines at 77.4 percent rounded out the top three. The largest three U.S. carriers—Delta, United and American Airlines at 70.1 percent—all made the 10 top global airlines ranking, at seventh, eighth and tenth, respectively.
The decline in on-time performance is in line with the challenges airlines have been facing the past few months, with several cancellations and delays caused by weather as well as carrier and airport staff shortages. Two of the included carriers had on-time performance dip below 50 percent: WestJet at 47 percent and Air Canada at an eyebrow-raising 38 percent.
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The report also showed year-over-year growth of 28.3 percent in the number of flights completed.
Cirium for North America reviewed carriers that are in the top 20 percent in terms of flight frequency, total seats and available seat kilometers. A flight is considered on time if the aircraft arrives at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.
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