DALLAS — The May 2024 report on airline on-time performance (OTP) from Cirium reveals significant regional variations.

While the Middle East & Africa showed notable improvements, North America and Latin America faced challenges, specially American Airlines (AA), with top-ranking carriers experiencing decreases in OTP.

Amid not unfounded rumors about returning to stock markets after a two-year hiatus, Aeromexico (AM) retained its position as the global leader despite a 2-point decrease, finishing May with an OTP of 86.75%.

Regional Highlights

North America

• Delta Air Lines (DL) led the region with an OTP of 81.04%, a near 5-point decrease from April.
• Alaska Airlines (AS) came in second with 79.04%, a slight decrease from the previous month's 80.43%.
• WestJet (WS) ranked third with 77.55%, down from April's 82.70%.
• JetBlue (B6) followed closely in fourth place with 76.58%.
• United Airlines (UA) placed fifth with 75.95%, down from April's 82.24%.

Asia Pacific

• Japan Airlines (JAL) led the region with an OTP of 86.40%, a slight decline from April's 88.17%.
• Vietnam Airlines (VN) secured the second spot with an OTP of 85.11%, a 3-point increase from April.
• ANA (NH) followed in third with 84.89%.
• Air New Zealand (NZ) ranked fourth with 83.99%.
• Thai AirAsia (FD) placed fifth with 83.55%.

Europe

• Iberia (IB) maintained its fourth-place global ranking with an OTP of 86.17%.
• Vueling (VY) stayed in fourth place with an OTP of 83.73%.
• LOT Polish Airlines (LO)** took fifth place with 82.36%.
• Overall, European airlines experienced a range of OTP performances, influenced by operational challenges and varying regional conditions.

Latin America

• LATAM Airlines (LA) improved slightly to second place globally with an OTP of 86.65%.
• Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) showed significant improvement with an OTP of 89.22%.
• Caribbean Airlines (BW) ended in fourth with 87.96%, a slight decline from April.
• Aeromexico (AM), the global leader, also secured the fifth spot in Latin America with an OTP of 86.75%.

Middle East & Africa

• The region saw a 38% decrease in flight cancellations, reflecting improved stability.
• Saudia (SV) made a notable leap to fifth place globally with an OTP of 86.09%, up by 6 points from April.

Low-Cost Carriers

• Iberia Express (I2)led the low-cost carrier segment with an OTP of 90.24%.
• Gol (G3) followed closely with 89.82%.
• Norwegian (DY) secured the third spot with 89.53%.
• Peach Aviation (MM) ranked fourth with 87.12%.
• Azul (AD) rounded out the top five with 84.79%.

Trends, Operational Highlights

The Cirium report highlights the varying impacts of regional challenges such as flight cancellations and operational disruptions.

Despite these challenges, several airlines demonstrated significant improvements, particularly in the Middle East & Africa and Latin America regions.

The detailed performance metrics underscore the importance of effective operational management and the resilience of top-performing airlines.

You can check out a summary of Cirium's May 2024 airport OTP overview here.