A report ranking the on-time performance of the world’s largest airlines has shown Asia Pacific and North America’s airlines as the weakest performing in the industry for 2023. 

Of the two worst-performing regions, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific were ranked in tenth place. Delta Airlines and Ana came out on top, respectively.

The data, collated by aviation analytics company Cirium, analyses the number of flights that landed 15 minutes later than scheduled for airlines around the world and saw Asia Pacific’s airlines achieve a total of 73.51% of flights arrive on time while North America reported a 74.45% rate. 

Meanwhile, the Middle East and Africa saw the highest percentage of flights arrive on time, 82.44%, with Latin America’s airlines close behind at 81.67% and Colombia’s SA Avianca reaching the highest percentage amongst the world’s largest airlines at 85.73%. 

Cirium CEO Jeremy Bowen highlighted the overall strength of on-time performances in the industry, saying: “The airline industry has emerged from the shadows of the pandemic, showing signs of robust recovery and resilience. 

“As we review the year 2023 and look forward to 2024, it’s clear that the sector is not just surviving but thriving in many aspects.” 

However, while the industry saw a strong overall performance, some of the world’s largest airlines recorded more disappointing numbers.

Air Canada, which ranked last among North America’s ten biggest airlines, was on time arrivals at just 63.17%, more than 5% behind the next best performing airline, JetBlue.

The continent's top performers also recorded some of the worst on-time performers globally, with only the top six airlines achieving more than 70% of on-time arrivals. The top ten airlines in all other regions achieved at least 71%.

Despite the underperformance of North America’s airlines, it was a US airport that ranked among the best performing in Cirium’s analysis, with Minneapolis-St Paul International achieving 84.44% on time departures, just ahead of India’s Rajiv Ghandi International and Kempegowda International airports. 

The high performing positions for two of India’s largest airports will be another welcome boost for the country’s aviation industry, which has also just marked a record month for domestic air passenger traffic during December 2023 as it surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels.