Average November North American airline on-time performance slipped 2 percentage points month over month to 78.3 percent, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium's latest report. The average also had dropped in October.
The report covers the period that included part of the U.S. government shutdown, which led to reduced levels of air traffic controller staffing, coupled with capacity cuts mandated by the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration, which went into effect Nov. 7 and were terminated on Nov. 17.
Of the 10 carriers included in the report, performance improved compared with October for only two: Southwest Airlines (up 3 percentage points) and Alaska Airlines (up 0.4 percentage points).
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Delta Air Lines in November ranked first (82.5 percent), followed by Alaska (82.1 percent) and United Airlines (80 percent).
Air Canada had the largest drop—down 9 percentage points to 73.1 percent, putting it at the bottom of the list. WestJet has the second-largest decline, at 7.4 percentage points to 77.3 percent. In October, the carrier had been ranked first.
None of the North American carriers made the November global list of most on-time airlines.
Just one North American carrier had a November completion rate above 99 percent—Spirit Airlines (99.1 percent). Alaska was second (97.8 percent), followed by Delta (97.7 percent).
The number of flights canceled in November tripled to 18,145 compared with 6,042 for October.
A flight is considered on time if the aircraft arrives at the gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time.
RELATED: Cirium: October N. American Airline On-Time Performance Drops