After a modest August month-over-month recovery in on-time performance of 2.7 percentage points, North American carriers in September reported a significant jump, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.
The September average on-time performance was up 10.6 percentage points month over month to 82.1 percent. All 10 reporting North American carriers posted increases.
Delta Air Lines was first with a September on-time performance of 87.8 percent, followed by United Airlines at 86.5 percent and Southwest Airlines at 84.2 percent. WestJet posted the biggest monthly increase at 18.4 percentage points to 82.1 percent. JetBlue, Air Canada and Spirit Airlines also had double-digit percentage-point increases over their August scores.
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Delta, United and American Airlines each made the global list of top on-time performers, coming in fourth, sixth and 10th, respectively.
The number of North American flights canceled in September decreased significantly month over month, with about 6,000 in September compared with nearly 17,800 in August.
The five carriers with the best completion factors all came in above 99 percent, led by Delta (99.63 percent), Southwest (99.62 percent) and Spirit (99.53 percent).
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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