Air travel

These airlines were the most on-time in 2024

Airlines
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images
  • Aeromexico, Saudia and Delta dominated the rankings for most on-time airlines last year.
  • On-time arrivals are flights that arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled time.
  • No airline topped 90% in on-time arrivals.

Air travel demand continued to surge in 2024, led by a bounce back in international trips.

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From January through October alone, revenue-passenger miles worldwide, a demand metric, was up nearly 11% over last year, according to the International Air Transport Association. In 2025, IATA estimates aircraft departures of 40 million, up 4.6% from 2024.

Airlines scrambled to add flights and increase premium seating, which brings in higher revenue, especially on long-haul trips. Challenges from shortages of new aircraft to financial strife continued for some carriers, however, many passengers didn't face the same flight disruptions as they did during acute staffing shortages coming out of the pandemic.

An Aeromexico airplane prepares to land on the airstrip at Benito Juarez international airport in Mexico City, Mexico.
Edgard Garrido|Reuters
An Aeromexico airplane prepares to land on the airstrip at Benito Juarez international airport in Mexico City, Mexico.

The most on-time airlines spanned the globe, according to a ranking released Thursday by Cirium. The aviation data firm considers punctuality an arrival that occurs within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Delta Air Lines topped the North American ranking despite its struggle to recover from the CrowdStrike outage in July that canceled thousands of flights.

Here's how the world's carriers fared

(On-time rate in parenthesis)

  1. Aeromexico (86.7%)
  2. Saudia Airlines (86.35%)
  3. Delta Air Lines (83.46%)
  4. LATAM Airlines (82.89%)
  5. Qatar Airways (82.83%)
  6. Azul Airlines (82.42%)
  7. Avianca (81.80%)
  8. Iberia (81.58%)
  9. Scandinavian Airlines (81.40%)
  10. United Airlines (80.93%)

And here are the rankings for North American airlines

  1. Delta Air Lines (83.46%)
  2. United Airlines (80.93%)
  3. Alaska Airlines (79.25%)
  4. American Airlines (77.78%)
  5. Southwest Airlines (77.77%)
  6. Spirit Airlines (76.05%)
  7. JetBlue Airways (74.53%)
  8. Frontier Airlines (71.57%)
  9. Air Canada (71.36%)
  10. WestJet (70.99%)
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