FlightStats September Airline/Airport On-time Performance Report

Though American Airlines experienced major flight disruptions, overall flight cancellations in North America came sharply down.

Story by Keith Gerr
10/05/2012 @ 2:23 PM (Updated 10/05/2012 @ 2:24 PM)

FlightStats, the undisputed leader in global flight and airport information services has released September's Airline and Airport On-time Performance Report. The report covers airlines and airports from North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

North American airlines, on average, delivered 80.50% of their flights to the arrival gate within 15 minutes of schedule in September, up 5 percentage points from August's 74.87%. Though American Airlines experienced major flight disruptions (21,237 delays and 1,391 cancellations), cancellations for the group in September were down sharply: 7,985 cancelled flights compared to 14,564 in August 2012.

North America's top 10 performing airlines and their on-time arrival percentages in September were:

    1.    HA    Hawaiian Airlines - 95.47% 
    2.    QX    Horizon Air - 94.25% 
    3.    CP    Compass Airlines - 92.03% 
    4.    FL    Airtran Airways - 90.75% 
    5.    CP    Copa Airlines - 90.22% 
    6.    AS    Alaska Airlines - 89.13% 
    7.     DL    Delta Air Lines - 88.78% 
    8.    JV    Bearskin Airlines - 88.45% 
    9.    TC    Taca Airlines - 87.99% 
    10. US    US Airways - 87.15%

Alaska Airlines and Delta led the majors in September. Here's how the North American major carriers on-time arrival percentages compared:

   1.    AS    Alaska Airlines - 89.13

   2.   DL     Delta Air Lines - 88.78

   3.   US    US Airways - 87.15

   4.   WN   Southwest Airlines - 86.27

   5.   B6    Jetblue- 82.98%

   6.   UA    United Airlines - 80.87%

  7.   AC    Air Canada - 68.59%

  8.   AA    American Airlines - 59.08%

A mix of major and regional European airlines turned in strong performances in September including NAYSA, Czech Airlines, Finnair and SAS. All of the airlines in the top ten delivered > 90% of their flights to the gate on time in September. The average OTP for the group was 85.03% in September, compared with 85.61% in August.

The top ten on-time arrival performers among European carriers were:

    1.    ZN    NAYSA - 95.46% 
    2.    KF    Blue1 - 94.59% 
    3.    OK Czech Airlines - 94.20% 
    4.    BT    airBaltic - 94.16% 
    5.    DB    Brit Air - 93.49% 
    6.    WA    KLM Cityhopper - 93.08% 
    7.    YS Regional - 92.73% 
    8.    AY    Finnair - 92.66% 
    9.    4U    Germanwings - 91.75% 
   10.   SK SAS - 91.53%

Of the top ten Asian airline on time performers, six delivered >92% of their flights to the gate on time in September. The average on-time performance rating among the 38 Asian airlines we analyzed in September was 72.59%, up noticeable from August's 66.69%.

Here are the top ten's on-time arrival percentage numbers:

    1.   XM1  J-Air - 94.39% 
    2.   HD    Hokkaido Int'l - 94.04% 
    3.   6E     IndiGo Airlines- 93.64% 
    4.   TR    Tiger Airways - 93.49% 
    5.   EH    ANA Wings - 92.13% 
    6.   3X     Japan Air Commuter - 92.03% 
    7.   JL     Japan Airlines - 89.89% 
    8.  JC     JAL Express - 89.18% 
    9.  TG     Thai Airways - 87.69% 
  10.  NH     ANA - 87.59%

This is our third quarterly on-time performance report on Middle Eastern airlines. Jazeera Airways continues to demonstrate its operational excellence with > 96% of its flights arriving on time in the third quater.

Here's a summary of how the Middle Eastern leading airlines performed between July 1, 2012 and September 30, 2012:

1.  J9   Jazeera Airways - 96.04% 
2   GF   Gulf Air - 89.16% 
3.   WY   Oman Aviation - 87.12% 
4.   ME   Middle East Airlines - 83.72% 
5.   QR   Qatar Airways - 82.86% 
6.   SV   Saudi Arabian Airlines - 82.19% 
7.   G9   Air Arabia - 81.42% 
8.   EY   Etihad Airways - 77.54% 
9.   FZ   Flydubai - 74.88% 
10. RJ   Royal Jordanian - 69.85% 
11. EK   Emirates - 69.74% 
12. MS   Egyptair - 65.83% 
13. KU   Kuwait Airways - 57.65% 
14. TU   Tunis Air - 31.61%

Though six North American airports were in the top ten, Tokyo's Haneda continues to outperform the rest of the world's busiest airports while posting a 92.98% on-time departure performance in September. One other Asian airport and two European airports rounded out the top 10 in September. The average on-time departure performance among the top 30 airports in September was 73.44%, up from 70.80% in August 2012.

The top 10 performers among the world's busiest airports were:

    1.    HND    Tokyo, JP - 92.98% 
    2.    PHX    Phoenix, AZ - 88.26% 
    3.    ATL     Atlanta, GA - 86.82% 
    4.    MCO   Orlando, FL - 86.11% 
    5.    CLT    Charlotte, NC - 84.50% 
    6.    IAH     Houston, TX - 83.57% 
    7.    MUC  Munich, DE - 83.01% 
    8.    AMS  Amsterdam, NL - 82.70% 
    9.    BKK   Bangkok, TH - 82.54% 
    10. LAX    Los Angeles, CA - 82.17%

SLC took the top spot in North America for the second month in a row with a 92.72% on-time departure performance in September. The average on-time departure performance for the group in September was 82.78%, up from August's 77.24%.

Here is a summary of the on-time departure performance for the 10 best performing large North American airports:

    1.    SLC    Salt Lake City, UT - 92.72% 
    2.    MSP  Minneapolis, MN - 90.31% 
    3.    PDX  Portland, OR - 90.27% 
    4.    SEA  Seattle, WA - 89.86% 
    5.    PHX  Phoenix, AZ - 88.26% 
    6.    OAK  Oakland, CA - 87.47% 
    7.    PIT    Pittsburgh, PA - 87.13% 
    8.    MEM Memphis, TN - 86.84% 
    9.    MCI Kansas City, MO - 86.83% 
   10.  ATL Atlanta, GA - 86.82%