For the second year in a row, Aeromexico claimed the top
spot as the world's most on-time airline in 2025 at 90.02 percent, besting its
2024 performance of 86.70 percent, according to aviation analytics company
Cirium's 2025 On-Time Performance Review. It is only the second airline to
achieve consecutive wins since Cirium launched the report in 2009.
Saudia Airlines, also for the second year in a row, came in
second with an on-time average of 86.53 percent, up 0.18 percentage points year
over year. SAS rounded out the top three at 86.09 percent, up 4.69 percentage
points from 2024.
Delta Air Lines was the only North American carrier to make
the global list, coming in 10th at 80.90 percent. (Mexico is in North America,
but Cirium includes Aeromexico in its Latin American grouping.) In 2024, Delta had
been third globally with an on-time average of 83.46 percent. Nine of the
airlines repeated their appearance on the global list. Turkish Airlines (81.41 percent)
supplanted United Airlines, which in 2024 had been 10th.
Qatar Airways won the Cirium Platinum Award for global
operational excellence. Delta had received that award for the previous four
years in a row.
Virgin Atlantic took the top spot for the new category of Most
Improved airline, gaining 9.44 percentage points year over year for an on-time
average of 83.45 percent.
Delta once again led North American carriers for the fifth
year in a row. Alaska Airlines moved up one spot to second at 79.20 percent,
followed by Spirit Airlines at 78.83 percent in third. Spirit was the most
improved North American carrier compared with its 2024 average, increasing 2.78
percentage points. United dropped to fourth place from second in 2024. Cirium
noted that the carrier had been "hit hard" by multiple
telecommunication outages affecting its Newark Liberty International Airport
hub.
While SAS was the top European global on-time carrier, Iberia
Express (88.94 percent) led the region for the third consecutive year. Global
and regional rankings differ because the qualifications used for the two
categories are not identical, according to Cirium. Austrian Airlines (83.74
percent) rounded out the top three for Europe.
In Latin America, Copa Airlines was first with 90.75
percent, followed by Aeromexico, repeating 2024's placement for the top two
spots, while Gol was third at 87.75 percent. Philippine Airlines led
Asia-Pacific with an on-time performance of 83.12 percent, followed by Air New
Zealand at 79.29 percent and All Nippon Airlines at 78.88 percent. South
Africa-based FlySafair was the top ranked in the Middle East and Africa at
91.06 percent, followed by Royal Jordanian Airlines at 90.73 percent and Saudi
Arabia-based Flyadeal at 86.54 percent.
In its canceled-flight summary, Cirium reported that Asia-Pacific
had the largest number of canceled flights, at 560,899, representing a 22
percent decrease year over year. North America was second with 286,952
cancellations, an 11 percent increase from 2024.
Airlines are measured as on time when a scheduled flight
arrives up to 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time, according to Cirium.
On-Time Airports
Cirium in 2025 did not provide a list of global on-time
airports, but did include three categories: large, medium and small.
Chile's Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport
took the top spot with an on-time departure average of 87.04 percent, knocking the
King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from its top perch
and down to second with an average of 86.81 percent. Coming in third was Mexico
City Benito Juarez International Airport at 86.55 percent. Two U.S. airports
made the top 10 list: Honolulu International Airport in fourth with an average
of 86.51 percent, and Salk Lake City International Airport at 85.04 percent in
seventh place.
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Four additional U.S. airports were included in the top 20
rankings: Los Angeles International Airport (81.79 percent) in 15th, Minneapolis-Saint
Paul International Airport in 17th at 81.17 percent, San Francisco
International Airport in 18th at 80.89 percent and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne
County Airport in 20th at 80.64 percent.
For the medium category, Panama City Tocumen International
Airport was first with an on-time departure average of 93.34 percent. Brasilia
International Airport followed in second at 88.36 percent, with Johannesburg
O.R. Tambo International Airport coming in third at 86.22 percent.
Portland International Airport came in seventh at 85.02
percent for the medium airport category, while San Jose Mineta International
Airport was ninth at 83.66 percent. Other U.S. airports listed in the top 20
included Monterrey International Airport (83.04 percent) in 11th, Sacramento
International Airport (82.20 percent) in 12th, Kansas City International
Airport (80.72 percent) in 14th and Raleigh-Durham International Airport (79.83
percent) in 16th.
Ecuador's Guayaquil Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International
Airport repeated its first-place ranking for the small airport category at
91.47 percent, followed by El Salvador International Airport at 90.28 percent
and Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont Airport in third at 89.67 percent. For U.S.
airports, Hawaii's Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole (88.48
percent) was seventh, followed by Spokane International Airport (86.04 percent)
in 16th and Boise Air Terminal (85.62 percent) in 19th.
The winner of Cirium's Platinum Award for airport operational
excellence was Istanbul Airport.
Airport on-time performance is measured by departure times of
up to 15 minutes of scheduled departure times, according to Cirium.