The world’s most punctual airlines for 2024

According to Cirium, United had an on-time rate of 80.93 per cent in 2024. (Ric Tapia / AP via CNN Newsource)

It may not come as a surprise to anyone who has gone on vacation this year, but the United Nations has made it official: global tourism returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024.

Amid stowaway passengers, creative efforts in the field of attempted contraband smuggling, and other aviation drama this year, there is some good news. Aviation analytics firm Cirium has compiled its annual ranking of the airlines and airports with the best on-time records.

Flying can be stressful for plenty of reasons, and having information about which flight gives you the best chance of making your connection can somewhat reduce the sense of pre-travel anxiety.

Cirium’s data is broken down by region and size of the airport or airline (based on the number of passengers served in a typical year).

For its purposes, “on time” means that a scheduled flight arrives or departs within 14:59 of its scheduled arrival time.

Overall winners

Thinking about signing up for a loyalty program? All three of this year’s most punctual airlines are members of the SkyTeam alliance: Aeromexico, Saudia, and Delta Air Lines, in that order.

Aeromexico and Delta are both founding members of the alliance, having been part of it since SkyTeam’s inception in 2000.

Saudia, which is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, is newer to the group. However, the airline has major ambitions to grow over the next decade as part of a bigger tourism strategy in the country. Earlier this year, Saudia placed an order for 105 Airbus planes, which will nearly double the airline’s capacity.

Regional recognition

Japan’s two largest airlines landed in the top two positions for promptness in the Asia-Pacific region: Japan Air Lines (JAL) winning the gold and All Nippon Airways (ANA) getting silver. Just four-tenths of a percentage point separated the two.

Singapore Airlines came in third for the region. It has won the Best Airline in the World honor from Skytrax — considered the “Oscars of the aviation industry” — five times.

Safair, a South Africa-based low cost carrier, was crowned the most punctual airline in the MENA (Middle East and Africa) region, followed by Oman Air and Royal Jordanian.

In Europe, Madrid-based Iberia landed in second place, while its low cost subsidiary Iberia Express was in first.

And for North America, Delta took top honors, followed by United and Alaska.

In Latin America, Colombia-based Copa was the most punctual airline, winning that honour for the second year in a row.

Airport standouts

In addition to ranking individual airlines, Cirium analyzes data about airports around the world.

Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH) took top honours in the large airport category as well as the overall title. Coming in second and third for the overall category were Lima Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM) in Peru and Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport (MEX).

Riyadh and Mexico City were ranked first and third for large airports, respectively, while Honolulu International Airport (HNL) in Hawaii filled out the list in second place.

For medium-size airports, the top three were Panama Tocumen International Airport (PTY), Osaka Itami International Airport (ITM) and Brasilia International Airport (BSB). In the small airport category, the most punctual ones were Guayaquil Jose Joaquin de Olmedo Intl Airport (GYE), Quito Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO) and El Salvador International Airport (SAL).

While these statistics are impressive, there are a few things to keep in mind whenever it comes to rankings like the one Cirium puts together — namely, that many of the causes of delays are not the fault of individual airlines or airports. Weather can play a huge role, and higher temperatures caused by man-made climate change is likely to make it more difficult in the years to come.