January 09, 2019

U.S. Shines in On-Time Performance With 5 of Top 10 Most Punctual Mega Airlines

Low-cost carriers, including Spirit, Southwest, Allegiant and WestJet continue strong punctuality performance, all finishing in the top 10 for North American airlines

Key Findings:

  • Hawaiian Airlines (OTP 87.5 percent) and Delta Air Lines (OTP 83.1 percent) were the two most punctual airlines in North America in 2018.
  • Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the busiest airport in the world, achieved second place among its peers in the Mega Airport category (OTP of 82.2 percent). Denver (DEN; OTP 80.7 percent) finished fourth and Los Angeles (LAX; OTP 80.0 percent) fifth among global Mega Airports.
  • Delta Air Lines was the most on-time Mega Airline in North America with an average OTP of 83.1 percent.
  • Alaska, Southwest, United and American join Delta to give the U.S. five of the top 10 Mega Airlines globally.
  • Spirit Airlines improved five spots globally over 2017, finishing with the fourth best punctuality in North America (OTP of 80.8 percent) and ninth best of global low-cost carriers.
  • Major U.S. hubs led the global rankings, finishing with seven out of the top 20 Mega Airports and 11 of the top 20 Major Airports.
OAG has released the results of its annual Punctuality League 2019, the industry's most comprehensive ranking of on-time performance (OTP) for the world's largest airlines and airports. U.S. airlines dominated the global rankings, finishing with five of the top 10 most punctual Mega Airlines in the world: Delta Air Lines (4), Alaska Airlines (5), Southwest Airlines (7), United Airlines (8) and American Airlines (9).

Hawaiian Airlines kept its first-place ranking among North American airlines for a fifth straight year, with an almost unchanged OTP of 87.5 percent, and placed fourth overall in the global rankings. U.S. low-cost carriers (LCC), including Spirit (OTP 80.8 percent) and Southwest (OTP 78.2 percent) moved up the rankings, placing fourth and fifth for the region, and ninth and 13th for global LCCs, respectively. JetBlue placed 16th in the Mega Airline category (OTP 71.4 percent).

"The low-cost carriers in North America continue to step up their game and invest in punctuality. Southwest Airline's strategy to focus on secondary airports is especially noteworthy, as it continues to positively impact its OTP. The carrier owns a large share of activity at the airports it flies in and out of, which creates more control and flexibility over daily operations. Out of the 86 airports Southwest services, it has more than a 10 percent share at 39 locations and over 40 percent share at 14 locations," said John Grant, senior analyst with OAG.

Delta Air Lines retains its second-place ranking in North America for a second straight year with an OTP of 83.1 percent. "Delta continues to be a shining example for other airlines when it comes to OTP. Their performance is especially noteworthy considering the size and scale of their operation," added John Grant.

Globally, airports in the U.S. performed strongly, with at least two finishing in the top five for each of the Large, Major and Mega Airport categories. Honolulu (HNL; OTP 87.7 percent) was second in OTP behind Japan's Osaka (ITM; OTP 88.2 percent) in the Large Airports category and Salt Lake City (SLC; OTP 85.9 percent) ranked fourth. Seven of the Top 20 airports in the Mega Category are in North America, including Atlanta (ATL; OTP 82.2 percent), Denver (DEN; OTP 80.7 percent) and Los Angeles (LAX; OTP 80.0 percent). The Top 20 Major Airport category featured 11 U.S. airports including Minneapolis International Airport (MSP; OTP 84.0 percent) and Detroit (DTW; OTP 83.8 percent), ranking third and fourth, respectively.

"Global on-time performance continues to be strong across the board. Many airlines and airports have made significant investment in infrastructure and transparency over the past decade and the results are paying off," said Grant. "As an industry, we've never been better equipped to maximize OTP and avoid severe delays."

The OAG Punctuality League is derived from the most comprehensive airline schedules database in the world and is the most transparent global benchmark for the world's airlines and airports. This year's report is based on over 58 million flight records using full year data from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018.

Copyright 2019 OAG Aviation Worlwide Limited. All rights reserved. From https://www.oag.com.

To view all articles, check out the Internet Travel Monitor Archive