Canada’s two major airlines among worst in North America for being on time

The two biggest airlines in Canada continue to be among the worst in North America for getting travellers to their destinations on time, recent aviation reports show.

Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, placed ninth while WestJet was seventh in the latest rankings (October flights) that track the on-time performance month to month of the 10 largest carriers in the United States and Canada (see charts below).

Both Montreal-based Air Canada and Calgary-based WestJet operate many or most of their flights out of Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga.

The story was only slightly different in September, aviation data firm Cirium’s On-time Performance Report for that month shows, when Air Canada was ninth on the list and WestJet sixth.

In August, Canada’s flagship airline was dead last in 10th spot while WestJet was only slightly better, coming in ninth. While both Canadian carriers are no strangers to the bottom half of the monthly rankings (with a couple of exceptions earlier this year), August was the first month of 2024 in which the two airlines occupied the bottom two spots.

October numbers show Air Canada landed 80.45 per cent of its 31,884 flights on time for that 31-day period, meaning just under 20 per cent were deemed late arrivals.

The Cirium report notes a flight is considered late if it lands 15 minutes or more past its scheduled arrival time.

By comparison, WestJet delivered 83.32 per cent of its 15,715 October flights to their destinations on time (just under 17 per cent were late).

Denver-based Frontier Airlines occupied 10th place in October, landing 76.06 per cent of its 18,178 flights on time (nearly 24 per cent late). Alaska Airlines sat in eighth spot, between the two Canadian carriers, landing 83.07 per cent of its flights on time, the data shows.

Leading October’s on-time list once again was U.S.-based Delta Air Lines, landing 90.53 per cent of its 149,254 flights on time, while United Airlines (U.S.) placed second for a third-straight month (88.13 per cent of 143,342 flights on time). American Airlines was third on the list (86.17 per cent of 188,481 flights on time).

Delta also placed first in September and August rankings after having dropped to third in July. Prior to that, the major U.S. carrier was No. 1 for 10 consecutive months.

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 October show of the 753,172 flights across North America (10 airlines combined), 84.45 per cent landed at their destination on time. By comparison, 82.14 per cent of 719,984 September flights were on time.

Airlines’ on-time performance for December 2023 through October 2024 are shown in above tables. Numbers for January 2024 were not made available. (Source: Cirium Aviation Analytics)

(Cover photo: Pearson Airport X)