After taking the North American top spot in Cirium's 2022 on-time performance report, Delta Air Lines also came out as the continent's winner again in travel data provider OAG's global report of the most punctual airlines and airports in 2022, released Tuesday.
Airlines and airports for which OAG has flight status data for at least 80 percent of all scheduled operated flights are included in the report. OAG analyzes airlines that are among the 250 largest globally by annual available seat kilometers. Flights operated by affiliate carriers are included in the data. Airports must have a minimum of 2.5 million departing seats. Both departure and arrival data are used for calculations for both airlines and airports. A flight is considered on time if it arrives or departs within 15 minutes of its scheduled times. Cancellations are included in the calculations and are counted as late flights, according to OAG.
Top Airlines
Of the global airlines considered, Garuda Indonesia was on top for the second year in a row with an on-time performance of 95.6 percent, followed closely by South Africa-based carrier Safair and Eurowings, each at 95.3 percent. Delta was the only North American carrier to make the top 20 list, coming in at 17th with an on-time performance of 81.8 percent.
Among what OAG considers "mega airlines" measured by frequency, All Nippon Airways was first at 88.8 percent, followed by Japan Airlines at 88.1 percent and Latam Airlines Group at 85 percent.
North American carriers fared better in this category, taking the latter half of the top 10 spots. In addition to Delta, which was sixth, they included Alaska Airlines (79.1 percent), United Airlines (79.1 percent), American Airlines (77.4 percent) and Spirit Airlines (73.2 percent). Elsewhere in the top 20, Southwest Airlines was 13th with 71.6 percent, JetBlue Airways was 18th at 63.9 percent, and Air Canada was 20th at 51.8 percent.
Top Airports
Airports in Japan took seven of OAG's top 10 spots, including the top four spots, and had 10 airports among the top 20. The top three were practically even: Osaka (91.5 percent), Matsuyama (91.4 percent) and Miyazaki (91.3 percent). No North American or European airports made the overall top 20 list.
Looking at "mega airports," which are measured by the number of flights operated, Tokyo Haneda took top honors at 88.1 percent, followed by Atlanta (80.1 percent) and Seattle-Tacoma (80 percent). U.S. airports took 14 of these top 20 rankings. Rounding out the U.S. top five are Houston (79.7 percent), Charlotte (79.6 percent) and Los Angeles (78.6 percent). The airports in the last four positions of the top 20 all were European—Istanbul (66.9 percent), Amsterdam (65.1 percent), Paris Charles de Gaulle (63.5 percent) and London Heathrow (61.5 percent).
Looking at all considered airports in North America, the top three were Salt Lake City (83.6 percent), Boise (82.9 percent) and Fresno (81.6 percent).
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