“2024’s Punctuality Champions: Which U.S. Airline Soars Above Despite Summer Setbacks?”

Delta Air Lines secured the title as the most punctual airline in the United States for 2024, preserving a position it maintained quite consistently throughout the year.

The airline headquartered in Atlanta celebrated an on-time performance rate of 83.46 percent for the year, as per information from aviation analytics firm Cirium that was shared with Travel + Leisure. This percentage was also sufficient to rank the airline as the third-best globally, trailing only behind Mexican airline Aeroméxico and Saudi Arabian airline Saudia.

Mike Malik, the chief marketing officer of Cirium, mentioned that Delta’s international ranking was “remarkable” given the scale of the airline, which operates over 1.6 million flights annually. This achievement comes despite a decline in July when Delta was notably affected by the CrowdStrike IT incident.  

“That is an extraordinary figure, and to maintain that level… is an incredible accomplishment,” he stated during a press briefing, continuing, “The intricacy, the enormity of this operation, and the figures that this airline achieves are simply astonishing.”

United Airlines ranked second in the U.S. with an on-time rate of 80.93 percent, followed by Alaska Airlines with an on-time rate of 79.25 percent, and American Airlines with an on-time rate of 77.78 percent. Southwest Airlines narrowly completed the top five with an on-time rate of 77.77 percent.

Frontier Airlines was listed as the least punctual airline in the U.S. with a mere rate of 71.57 percent, trailed by JetBlue, which recorded an on-time rate of 74.53 percent.

Cirium defines an airline as “on time” if a scheduled flight arrives within 14 minutes and 59 seconds of the planned arrival time.

As for airports, travelers in the U.S. experienced the best outcomes at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), which came in at No. 4 globally with an on-time rate of 83.8 percent. Following this were Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP), which ranked No. 6 with an on-time rate of 82.27 percent, Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), ranked No. 7 with an on-time rate of 82.23 percent, and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), which took the No. 8 spot with a rate of 82.06 percent.

Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in Riyadh displayed the highest on-time rate globally at 86.65 percent, while Peru’s Jorge Chavez International Airport (LIM) in Lima claimed the second position in the world with an on-time rate of 84.57 percent.