Azul Airlines has been named as the global leader for airline on-time performance for 2022 by Cirium, the global aviation analytics leader. Despite the challenging operational environment caused by the pandemic, many airlines and airports worldwide excelled, with Delta Air Lines being honoured with the Cirium Platinum Award for global operational excellence for the second consecutive year. This award considers a number of factors including on-time performance, operational complexity and an airline’s ability to limit the impact of flight disruption to its passengers.

The winners in other regions are Delta Air Lines in North America, Thai AirAsia for Asia Pacific, Oman Air for the Middle East and Africa, Azul in Latin America and Iberia in Europe. StarFlyer was the leading low-cost carrier and Haneda Airport was the top airport performer globally.

An on-time flight is defined as a flight that arrives within 15 minutes of the scheduled gate arrival. For an airport, it is defined as departing within 15 minutes of its scheduled departure.

Jeremy Bowen, Cirium CEO said: “Congratulations to Delta Air Lines for its excellent performance in Cirium’s 2022 On-Time Performance Review, getting its passengers to their destinations on time as the sector revived during 2022. Ramping back up operations so quickly after an enforced slowdown is not easy to do and the top-ranked airlines and airports in Cirium’s 2022 On-Time Performance Review deserve their recognition for this well-orchestrated achievement.”



During 2022, airlines had difficulty anticipating the sudden recovery in demand. They had been disappointed on several previous occasions throughout the pandemic, when it looked like demand was picking up, only for it to reverse course in the face of new Covid variants. When the recovery finally came this past year, the industry struggled with understaffing and insufficient capacity. Delays and cancellations became issues, but operations greatly improved as the industry added workers and adjusted capacity. 2023 appears to hold great promise for the aviation industry.

Airline On time ranking On time arrival Total flights
(AD) Azul 1 88.93% 279,722
(NH) ANA 2 88.61% 162,370
(JL) JAL 3 88.00% 165,981
(LA) LATAM Airlines 4 86.31% 451,651
(DL) Delta Air Lines 5 83.63% 1,004,684
(AV) SA AVIANCA 6 83.48% 144,525
(EK) Emirates 7 81.30% 137,589
(UA) United Airlines 8 80.46% 789,200
(QR) Qatar Airways 9 78.32% 152,377
(AA) American Airlines 10 78.29% 1,076,100

The top performing global airports of 2022 were:

Airport On time ranking On time departure Total flights
(HND) Haneda Airport 1 90.33% 373,264
(BLR) Kempegowda International Airport 2 84.08% 201,897
(SLC) Salt Lake City International Airport 3 83.87% 226,545
(DTW) Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport 4 82.62% 271,963
(PHL) Philadelphia International Airport 5 82.54% 233,777
(MSP) Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport 6 81.95% 276,346
(DEL) Indira Gandhi International Airport 7 81.84% 411,205
(SEA) Seattle-Tacoma International Airport 8 81.04% 383,250
(BOG) El Dorado International Airport 9 80.72% 273,721
(CLT) Charlotte Douglas International Airport 10 80.68% 457,871

In North America the top ten airlines were:

Airline On time ranking On time arrival Total flights
(DL) Delta Air Lines 1 83.63% 1,004,684
(UA) United Airlines 2 80.46% 789,200
(AS) Alaska Airlines 3 80.36% 243,072
(AA) American Airlines 4 78.29% 1,076,100
(WN) Southwest Airlines 5 74.06% 1,336,888
(F9) Frontier Airlines 6 68.32% 170,047
(B6) JetBlue Airways 7 66.35% 343,673
(G4) Allegiant Air 8 65.93% 117,469
(WS) WestJet 9 59.10% 94,663
(AC) Air Canada 10 54.51% 150,602

In Europe the leading airlines were:

Airline On time ranking On time arrival Total flights
(IB) Iberia 1 85.87% 91,154
(UX) Air Europa 2 84.10% 48,163
(I2) Iberia Express 3 83.80% 35,665
(VY) Vueling 4 82.04% 197,546
(OS) Austrian 5 82.00% 95,708
(DY) Norwegian Air Shuttle 6 81.29% 71,561
(AZ) ITA Airways 7 80.29% 91,841
(D8) Norwegian Air Sweden 8 79.03% 41,215
(AY) Finnair 9 75.16% 45,727
(LO) LOT – Polish Airlines 10 75.08% 85,902

In Latin America the results were:

Airline On time ranking On time arrival Total flights
(AD) Azul 1 88.93% 279,722
(H2) Sky Airline 2 88.74% 27,161
(CM) Copa Airlines 3 88.02% 104,083
(LA) LATAM Airlines 4 86.31% 451,651
(AV) SA AVIANCA 5 83.48% 144,525
(AR) Aerolineas Argentinas 6 82.02% 94,982
(AM) Aeromexico 7 75.83% 113,814
(Y4) Volaris 8 71.61% 187,502

In Asia Pacific the leaders were:

Airline On time ranking On time arrival Total flights
(FD) Thai AirAsia 1 91.56% 66,043
(NH) ANA 2 88.61% 162,370
(JL) JAL 3 88.00% 165,981
(HO) Juneyao Airlines 4 86.65% 88,115
(6E) IndiGo 5 84.11% 561,864
(I5) AirAsia India 6 83.70% 60,882
(NZ) Air New Zealand 7 81.29% 156,591
(MH) Malaysia Airlines 8 80.99% 95,962
(UK) Vistara 9 80.98% 87,901
(MM) Peach Aviation 10 79.81% 56,176

In the Middle East and Africa the most on-time airlines were:

Airline On time ranking On time arrival Total flights
(WY) Oman Air 1 91.38% 29,631
(RJ) Royal Jordanian 2 86.76% 28,887
(KU) Kuwait Airways 3 81.64% 25,982
(EK) Emirates 4 81.30% 137,589
(QR) Qatar Airways 5 78.32% 152,377
(ET) Ethiopian Airlines 6 77.30% 102,571
(ME) Middle East Airlines 7 75.91% 20,654
(AT) Royal Air Maroc 8 72.01% 45,062
(LY) EL AL 9 69.80% 23,274
(SV) Saudia 10 69.75% 172,797

The leading low cost carriers were:

Airline On time ranking On time arrival Total flights
(7G) StarFlyer 1 95.23% 21,894
(6J) Solaseed Air 2 94.53% 27,486
(FD) Thai AirAsia 3 91.56% 66,043
(AD) Azul 4 88.93% 279,722
(H2) Sky Airline 5 88.74% 27,161
(HD) Air Do 6 88.34% 22,187
(6E) IndiGo 7 84.11% 561,864
(I2) Iberia Express 8 83.80% 35,665
(I5) AirAsia India 9 83.70% 60,882
(VY) Vueling 10 82.04% 197,546