30% of Air Canada’s 31,307 December 2023 flights were late: Report

Nearly three in every 10 Air Canada flights this past December were late getting to their destination, once again placing Canada’s flagship carrier last among North America’s 10 major airlines in on-time performance.

After escaping bottom spot in aviation data firm Cirium’s monthly On-time Performance Report (North American airlines) in September and October (ninth place both months), Air Canada returned to 10th place in November and again in December (see chart below).

Cirium’s latest monthly report shows that nearly 30 per cent of Air Canada’s 31,307 December 2023 flights were late in arriving at their destination, meaning 15 minutes or more past scheduled arrival time. The carrier’s on-time flight mark was 70.74 per cent for the month.

In November, about one-quarter of Air Canada’s 29,824 flights were late (74.94 per cent on-time flight mark).

Air Canada was last on the list for three consecutive months before jumping up to ninth place last September, ahead of JetBlue. It placed ninth once again in October, ahead of WestJet.

More Air Canada flights originate at Pearson Airport in Mississauga than at any other Canadian airport.

Numbers measuring on-time performance for all of 2023 also placed Air Canada at the bottom of the rankings for the entire 12-month period, Cirium data revealed.

Airlines’ on-time performance, December 2023 (Source: Cirium Aviation Analytics)

Canada’s other major airline, Calgary-based WestJet, which was dead last in the October rankings, placed seventh on the list in December with an on-time arrival mark of 73.86 per cent (15,035 flights). It was eighth on the list in November (76.36 per cent, 13,952 flights).

Long Island, N.Y.-based JetBlue, meanwhile, was ninth on the list in December (71 per cent, 29,123 flights) and Miami-based ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines was eighth (73.82 per cent, 25,801 flights).

At the top of the list for a fifth-straight month was U.S.-based Delta Air Lines, which landed 89.57 per cent of its 135,240 December passenger flights on time. Its numbers in November were 91.29 per cent of 132,776 flights on time.

Once again, United Airlines (85.80 per cent of 125,823 flights) and American Airlines (84.31 per cent of 167,692 flights), also both based in the U.S., placed second and third, respectively, in December, the figures show.

Delta and United consistently ranked in the top three each month in 2023 while Alaska Airlines is also nearly always in the top four.

Each month, Cirium ranks the 10 largest airlines in a given region around the world based on their on-time performance rate.

Its numbers from December show that of the 711,576 flights across North America (10 airlines combined), 79.07 per cent arrived on time, down from 81.86 per cent in November.

“Despite the hectic holiday travel season and operations, Delta Air Lines…concluded December strongly with an impressive OTP of 89.57 per cent,” Cirium officials noted in their report, adding the “big three” — Delta, United and American — produced “impressive numbers” even though they were down slightly from the previous month.

(Cover photo: Pearson Airport)

Airlines’ on-time performance, November 2023 (Source: Cirium Aviation Analytics)

Airlines’ on-time performance, October 2023 (Source: Cirium Aviation Analytics)

Airlines’ on-time performance, September 2023 (Source: Cirium Aviation Analytics)