Major Canadian airline again ranks worst in North America for on-time flights
Published December 12, 2023 at 1:15 pm
Air Canada once again ranks last among North America’s 10 major carriers in getting passengers to their destinations on time.
Canada’s flagship carrier, which escaped the bottom spot in aviation data firm Cirium’s monthly On-time Performance Report in September and October, finds itself on the bottom rung of the ladder again in November (see chart below).
Cirium’s latest report, released this week, shows that one-quarter of Air Canada’s 29,824 November flights were late in arriving at their destination, meaning 15 minutes or later past scheduled arrival time. That’s an on-time flight mark of 74.94 per cent.
More Air Canada flights originate at Pearson Airport in Mississauga than at any other Canadian airport.
Canada’s other major airline, Calgary-based WestJet, which was dead last in the October rankings, placed eighth on the list in November with an on-time arrival mark of 76.36 per cent (13,952 flights).
Miami-based ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines sat in between the Canadian airlines in ninth spot, with an on-time arrival mark in November of 75.13 per cent (25,983 flights).
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Long Island, N.Y.-based JetBlue, meanwhile, ranked No. 7 on Cirium’s November list, landing 77.02 per cent of its 27,808 flights on time to place just ahead of WestJet.
Leading the way for a fourth-straight month in on-time performance in November was U.S.-based Delta Air Lines, which landed 91.29 per cent of its 132,776 passenger flights on time.
United Airlines (88.44 per cent of 121,761 flights) and American Airlines (86.65 per cent of 165,841 flights), also both based in the U.S., placed second and third, respectively, in November, the figures show.
Delta and United have consistently ranked in the top three each month so far this year.
Air Canada was last on the list for three consecutive months before jumping up to ninth place in September, ahead of U.S. carrier JetBlue. It placed ninth once again in October, ahead of WestJet.
In October, Canada’s flagship carrier landed 72.43 per cent of its 31,693 flights on time, the data shows.
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 November show that of the 693,185 flights across North America (10 airlines combined), 81.86 per cent arrived on time, up from 80.13 per cent in October.
(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)