NEW YORK, Jan 4: In a refreshing break from typical aviation news, Cirium, an aviation analytics company, has unveiled its analysis of the most punctual airlines and airports globally. Avianca, the Colombian flag carrier, clinched the overall title for the Most Punctual Airline, with Copa securing the accolade for South America. Other winners included All Nippon Airways (ANA) in Asia, Delta Air Lines in North America, Iberia Express in Europe, and Oman Air in the Middle East and Africa. Despite Avianca's overall recognition, a closer look at the data revealed diverse results, highlighting the resilience of the airline industry in 2023 despite pandemic challenges.

Cirium's assessment considered factors such as on-time arrivals tracked flights, and total flights made. Avianca achieved an 85.73% on-time arrival rate out of 213,039 total flights. Notably, Delta and American Airlines outpaced others in total flights, with Delta recording 1,635,486 flights and an 84.72% on-time arrival rate. In comparison, American Airlines managed 1,998,844 flights with an 80.61% on-time arrival record. Other notable high performers included Qatar Airways and Japan Airlines.

Cirium's Senior Director of Advanced Initiatives David White highlighted 2023 as a year of resilience for the airline industry despite pandemic challenges. Cirium also commended smaller low-cost carriers, with Safair, Azul, Hong Kong Express, JetStar Japan, and Iberia Express securing top positions.

The report emphasized that not all delays are solely attributed to airlines, acknowledging external factors like weather, airport traffic, and staffing issues. Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) in Minnesota was crowned the best airport globally for punctuality in 2023, with Osaka International (ITM) in Japan and Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO) in Ecuador winning in the medium-sized and small-airport categories, respectively.