When travelers talk about air travel being a “nightmare these days” or that it’s “not what it used to be,” they are almost always referring to the time they spent waiting while a flight was delayed or even canceled.
Amid the boost in post-pandemic traveler numbers, numerous airlines went through a period of struggling to find the staff to run the needed flights. Some were able to emerge from the struggles within a few weeks while others retain a reputation for high delay and cancelation numbers.
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Releasing its monthly numbers for September 2024, airline analytics company Cirium found on-time arrival rates that are generally quite high — the industry-wide 82.1% is a jump of 10.6 percentage points from the month before. As a peak month for traveling, August typically sees the worst delay numbers of the year as many airlines struggle with understaffing and a rush of people.
Delta Air Lines led U.S. carriers in on-time percentage
Delta Air Lines (DAL) was the most on-time airline in September after losing its frontrunner place in July and then regaining it again in August. Delta’s on-time rate of 87.8% was the highest out of all the U.S.-based airlines looked at by Cirium.
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United Airlines (UAL) and Southwest (LUV) scored second and third with rates of 86.5% and 84.2%, respectively. While landing in the middle of the pack among competitors, American Airlines (AAL) , Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and Canadian carrier WestJet still reported rates above 82%.
“September witnessed continued improvement in global airline and airport operations,” Cirium writes in the report. “While some challenges persisted, the industry demonstrated resilience and adaptability.”
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Frontier Airlines was the most-delayed carrier
The most-delayed airline, meanwhile, was Frontier Airlines (FRON) . The Denver-based low-cost carrier had an on-time rate of 76.5% which means that nearly a quarter of all flights were delayed.
Canada’s flagship Air Canada (ACDVF) was second-worst, with an on-time rate of 77.1% while Alaska Airlines (ALK) rounded out the bottom three with 79.9%.
While low-cost carriers generally fare worse than mainstream ones, Spirit was the most-improved airline from the past month due to a jump of 12 points while JetBlue Airways (JBLU) landed closed to the bottom with a fourth-from-last rate of 82%. JetBlue and Air Canada, which landed at the bottom in August, also reported double-digit improvement in on-time arrivals.
Both in the industry and for the purposes of the report, a flight is considered to have landed on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of the time announced before departure. Cirium also looks at on-time arrival rates across different continents; globally, Aeromexico (GRPAQ) maintained its streak as the world’s timeliest airline with an on-time arrival rate of 91.13%.”
“Delta Air Lines returned as the regional leader with an OTP of 87.81%, an increase of more than six points compared to 80.90% in August,” the Cirium researchers write of the numbers further. “Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the main hub for Delta, ended the month with an OTP of 84.40%, an increase of more than five points from August’s OTP of 79.28%.”
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