Carriers’ January On-Time Performance Improves

After December’s significant drop in on-time performance for North American carriers, in part due to a late-month storm, January’s performance notably improved.

Average North American airline on-time performance in January was 72.2 percent, up from 65.8 percent in December, according to Cirium’s monthly report. Unlike December, when every carrier clocked month-over-month declines in performance, every carrier included in January’s report showed OTP improvement, although most still performed below November 2022 levels.

Cirium has changed its methodology, beginning with the January 2023 report. It now combines mainline and network flights into one performance percentage for all flights operated under a carrier’s brand, including flights operated by a separate airline partner but excluding codeshares. Cirium previously separated the two.

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Delta Air Lines remained in the top spot, with 79.9 percent of its scheduled flights arriving on time, followed closely by American Airlines at 79.8 percent. Alaska Airlines, third at 79.5 percent, had the highest percentage-point increase for the month at 15.4. 

For January global on-time performance, Delta was the only North American carrier to make the list, at 10th. The global on-time average was 84.7 percent.

Nearly 13,550 North American flights were canceled in January versus nearly 33,590 in December, according to Cirium, a decline of about 60 percent.

A flight is considered on time if the aircraft arrives at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.

RELATED: Carriers’ December On-Time Performance Tumbles