Hawaiian, Delta, American and United Most Punctual Airlines in U.S.

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Hawaiian, Delta, American and United Most Punctual Airlines in U.S.

OAG has revealed the most punctual airlines and airports in North America as part of its annual Punctuality League 2022. Three U.S. carriers ranked among the most punctual Mega Airlines in the world, including Delta Air Lines (15), American Airlines (25) and United Airlines (30).

Several low-cost carriers (LCCs) ranked among the top 10 North American Airlines, including Southwest and JetBlue. Hawaiian Airlines kept its first-place ranking among U.S. airlines for a seventh-straight year, and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport ranked as the third most punctual U.S. Airport (see tables below for top 10 rankings).

While on-time performance (OTP) has improved, near-term capacity remains volatile. In December of 2021 there were 17.5% fewer flights scheduled in North America than in December 2019. Capacity continued to be cut in early 2022 as airlines worked to manage available resources and crew during the Omicron wave.

The annual OTP data coincides with the release of OAG’s latest insight report, The Price of On-time Performance, Are We Willing to Pay the Price?, which raises questions about the role of the embedded industry KPIs as capacity rebuilds.

“Over the last two years, airlines had to cut their networks, reduce fleet sizes, furlough staff and navigate COVID variants. Recovery will come at a greater price in 2022 unless airlines balance operations with available resources and staff,” said John Grant, Senior Analyst at OAG.

Given the current market fluctuation, OAG’s insight report highlights several challenges to accelerate the rebuild and maintain strong OTP as capacity improves in 2022:

  • Infrastructure Investment: Rethinking key operational aspects, like airport designs, terminals and schedules to maintain the strong on-time performance.
  • Aircraft Productivity: Maximizing aircraft utilization to remain profitable by optimizing fleet, crew and airport locations.
  • Connecting Traffic: Analyzing traffic flows, schedules and connecting times on a near daily basis helps ensure connections are effective for travelers, marketable across various booking channels and operationally effective for airlines.

TABLE 1: TOP 10 MOST PUNCTUAL U.S. AIRLINES

Airline

OTP %

Global Rank

Hawaiian Airlines

89.9%

9

Delta Air Lines

88.4%

15

American Airlines

85.1%

25

United Airlines

83.5%

30

Alaska Airlines

82.6%

33

Southwest Airlines

81.2%

41

Frontier Airlines Inc.

79.8%

48

Spirit Airlines

79.4%

50

Allegiant Air LLC

75.4%

55

JetBlue Airways Corporation

73.4%

59

TABLE 2: TOP 10 MOST PUNCTUAL U.S. AIRPORTS

Airport

Category

OTP %

Global Rank

Charlotte Douglas Intl

Mega

89.3%

34

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County

Mega

88.8%

38

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Intl

Mega

88.3%

48

Myrtle Beach Intl

Small

88.2%

51

Raleigh-Durham Intl

Large

88.1%

52

Lihue Airport

Small

87.9%

57

Philadelphia Intl

Major

87.5%

59

Norfolk Intl

Small

87.4%

63

Minneapolis-Saint Paul Intl

Mega

87.3%

65

Pittsburgh Intl

Medium

87.2%

67

Download the full report for more insights from OAG’s Punctuality League 2022.

*Punctuality League 2022 Ranking Criteria

Airlines and airports continued to face severe challenges in 2021, with operations at a fraction of what they were pre-COVID. Given this, OAG released an abridged version of the Punctuality League 2022. For airlines and airports ranking outside of the Top 50, OTP performance could be out of context in relation to operational capacity and would not reflect performance fairly.

Criteria:

  • Top 50 Airlines: From a pool of the Top 250 Airlines by ASKs in 2021, OTP rankings are based on those with 80% or more/higher status coverage.
  • Top 50 Airports: By departing seats, with a minimum threshold of 2.5M departing seats annually, OTP rankings are based on those with 80% or more/higher status coverage.