For the second consecutive month, the July on-time performance for North American carriers declined month over month for eight of the 10 reporting airlines, according to the latest report from aviation analytics company Cirium. The weighted average for the month was down 3.9 percentage points from June to 71.6 percent.
WestJet took top honors for a third consecutive month with an on-time performance of 83.9 percent, representing a 2.5 percentage-point decline month over month. Alaska Airlines was second at 76.2 percent, down 4.4 percentage points, while United Airlines finished third at 75.4 percent, declining just 0.8 percentage points.
The two carriers with month-over-month increases were Southwest Airlines, up 3.2 percentage points to 67.2 percent and Allegiant, up 0.3 percentage points to 70 percent.
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WestJet again was the only North American carrier to make Cirium's July list of global on-time airlines at sixth. Saudia topped that global list for a third consecutive month at 87.2 percent.
WestJet also had a July completion factor of 99.5 percent, followed by Alaska at 99 percent. They were the only two North American carriers with a completion factor above 99 percent for the month.
The number of North American flight cancellations in July was 22,921 compared with 14,128 in June.
A flight is considered on time if the aircraft arrives at the gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time.
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