Jessie Knadler
Ranking punctuality in the U.S., Europe and Asia
Aah, the holidays: The time of year that’s synonymous with good food, gifts and—flights from hell. In case you haven’t idled at an airport in awhile, the airline industry has suffered one of its worst years in recent memory. JetBlue’s stranding of passengers on the tarmac at JFK for 11 hours—on Valentine’s Day!—is but one horrific example.
But in the spirit of giving, we decided not to focus on everything that’s wrong with the industry. Rather, we turned our attention to what’s right. That is, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind anxious fliers that many carriers do get passengers from point A to B on time.
To that end, we analyzed current punctuality records of carriers around the globe, and came up with a list identifying the most punctual airlines in each region where data was available...
Ranking punctuality in the U.S., Europe and Asia
Aah, the holidays: The time of year that’s synonymous with good food, gifts and—flights from hell. In case you haven’t idled at an airport in awhile, the airline industry has suffered one of its worst years in recent memory. JetBlue’s stranding of passengers on the tarmac at JFK for 11 hours—on Valentine’s Day!—is but one horrific example.
But in the spirit of giving, we decided not to focus on everything that’s wrong with the industry. Rather, we turned our attention to what’s right. That is, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind anxious fliers that many carriers do get passengers from point A to B on time.
To that end, we analyzed current punctuality records of carriers around the globe, and came up with a list identifying the most punctual airlines in each region where data was available...
Jessie Knadler Ranking punctuality in the U.S., Europe and Asia Aah, the holidays: The time of year that’s synonymous with good food, gifts and—flights... more
CURRENT SCORE
3.63
Hawaiian
93%
The largest of Hawaii's two carriers is the nation's number one most punctual flier. During the month of October, zero of its 150 scheduled flights were late.
Aloha
92.4%
The smaller of the two Hawaiian carriers flies to the U.S. mainland, making it the second-most on-time U.S. flier.
Southwest
80.4%
With 3,300 daily flights, the Dallas-headquartered airline is ranked number one among the big U.S. carriers, and the third most punctual overall. It's achieved this by structuring its network around smaller airports and point-to-point flying, as opposed to the traditional hub-and-spoke model, in which connecting flights all land within the same time frame, increasing the likelihood of congestion.
Frontier
79%
Denver's hometown airline launched 13 years ago. Today, its fleet of 60 aircraft flies to points across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Airtran
77.2%
The low-cost airline flies principally on the east coast with the majority of its 700 flights per day originating out of Atlanta, which, according to IATA figures, also happens to be the world's busiest airport.
Delta
76.9%
Delta ranks as the second-most punctual of the biggest U.S. carriers, and the sixth-most punctual overall. It's also ranked sixth-77.6%-for historical on-time performance.
Skywest
75.4%
As part of an on-going growth plan, the St. George, UT-based airline (which also owns Atlantic Southeast) recently purchased 22 new 60-to-80-seat Bombardier jets, with the aim of moving more passengers with fewer planes. Right now, the 277-strong SkyWest fleet includes 59 Embraer aircraft which carry only 30 passengers each.
Continental
74.8%
The world's fifth-largest airline operates 3,100 daily departures throughout the U.S. During the month of October, 46 complaints were filed against it with the DOT.
ExpressJet
74.2%
The Houston-based regional carrier also flies as Continental Express and Delta Connection.
Mesa
73.7%
The small regional carrier is headquartered in Albuquerque, N.M., and is partnered with Delta, United, USAirways and Midwest Airlines. During the month of October, 14 complaints were filed with the DOT.
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