Passengers check arrival and departure flight boards at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., Tuesday, December 21, 2021.
Elijah Novelage | Elijah Novelage Bloomberg | Getty Images
Air travel demand continues to surge in 2024, driven by a rebound in international travel.
From January to October alone, global revenue passenger miles, an indicator of demand, rose nearly 11% from last year, according to the International Air Transport Association. IATA expects aircraft movements to reach 40 million in 2025, an increase of 4.6% from 2024.
Airlines are scrambling to add flights and add premium seats, which brings in higher revenue, especially on long-haul trips. Some airlines continue to face challenges such as a shortage of new planes and financial conflicts, but many passengers are not facing disruptions like they did when the pandemic caused severe staffing shortages.
An Aeromexico plane prepares to land on the runway at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico.
Edgard Garrido | Reuters
The most punctual airlines are spread across the world, according to rankings released by Cirium on Thursday. The aviation data company considers on-time to mean arriving within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Delta Air Lines Tops North American rankings despite struggling to recover from crisis mass strike Power outages in July caused the cancellation of thousands of flights.
Here’s how global operators performed:
(On-time performance is shown in brackets)
- Aeromexico (86.7%)
- Saudi Arabian Airlines (86.35%)
- Delta Air Lines (83.46%)
- LATAM Airlines (82.89%)
- Qatar Airways (82.83%)
- Blue Airlines(82.42%)
- Avianca (81.80%)
- Iberia (81.58%)
- Scandinavian Airlines (81.40%)
- United Airlines (80.93%)
Here’s how North American airlines rank:
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