The 10 US airlines, airports with the best on-time performance 2023
New year, new chances to explore.
Travel can be a wonderful thing. From exploring new places to connecting with loved ones far away, two things that can truly ruin the experience are flight delays and cancellations. As Americans start planning 2024 trips, they may be wondering which airlines and airports to avoid for the least amount of disruptions.
There’s newly released data to help with that. Aviation analytics company Cirium released its On-Time Performance Review 2023 on Tuesday, which has been evaluating the punctuality of airlines and airports for over 15 years. The company reviews over 600 sources of real-time flight information to compile its report.
Last year was busy for airlines, with over 32 million scheduled passenger flights, according to the report. North American airlines did well in increasing their operations to meet the high travel demand.
“As we look ahead to 2024, we anticipate sustained operational excellence as challenges arising from labor shortages and airport infrastructure are gradually addressed and resolved,” said James Hetzel, Product Marketing Director at Cirium, in the report.
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Once again, Delta Air Lines earned the top spot for having 84.72% of its over 1.4 million flights arriving on time (or within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival or departure time) in 2023.
This upcoming year is expected to be even busier for travelers, with an anticipated 9.4 billion travelers, surpassing 2019’s 9.2 billion passengers, the report said.
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North American airlines with the best on-time performance for 2023
- Delta Air Lines – 84.72% of flights on time
- Alaska Airlines – 82.25% of flights on time
- American Airlines – 80.61% of flights on time
- United Airlines – 80.04% of flights on time
- Southwest Airlines – 76.26% of flights on time
- Spirit Airlines – 71.16% of flights on time
- WestJet – 69.29% of flights on time
- Frontier Airlines – 68.68% of flights on time
- JetBlue Airways – 68.33% of flights on time
- Air Canada – 63.17% of flights on time
The overall on-time arrival rate for North American airlines in 2023 was 74.45%, compared to 74.26% in 2022. Last year also saw nearly 400,000 more scheduled flights than in 2022.
Major US airports with the best on-time departure performance for 2023
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – 84.44% of flights on time
- Salt Lake City International Airport – 83.99% of flights on time
- Ronald Reagan National Airport – 83.20% of flights on time
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport – 83.09% of flights on time
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – 82.97% of flights on time
- Philadelphia International Airport – 82.75% of flights on time
- LaGuardia Airport – 81.34% of flights on time
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport – 80.36% of flights on time
- San Diego International Airport – 80.32% of flights on time
- Washington Dulles International Airport – 80.26% of flights on time
These airports made the list of the 20 major airports in the world with the best on-time departure performance. Globally, the rate of on-time departures was 78.52% in 2023.
Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.