Delta Air Lines dropped to number three in reliability among North American carriers in June, according to data from aviation analytics company Cirium.
Air Canada was the most on-time airline in North America. What’s especially notable about this is that they’ve done this for the second month in a row, and they’ve been perpetually at the bottom of operational performance for years.
- Canada’s weather is much more mild in the summer and that helps, but it’s hardly just that.
- WestJet’s continued lower-tier performance underscores this. I don’t know what’s improved with Air Canada but for the past couple of months it has been significant.
JetBlue is also not at the bottom for the month. They’re in the middle, which for them is a huge win. They do a nice job in the air, but they are a mess on the ground and have been an operational mess for years. Any sort of mean reversion to industry average would make them much more flyable.
Meanwhile, Spirit Airlines (for all of its challenges) continues to run a reliable operation. They can’t seem to generate much revenue for their flights, to decide where they want to fly, or how they want to position themselves. But they’re running flights and running them on-time – even more so than Delta last month, which was more heavily affected by weather than they were. Atlanta suffered a terrible storm at the end of the month.
American and Southwest were both hurt by Texas weather events (and weather elsewhere, I was delayed on American by DC storms and Dallas storms). American’s performance was, still, even worse than I expected – falling below 70% in on-time performance, and the lowest completion factor (most likely to cancel) in the industry.
Among the most on-time airports in the world, the only one in the U.S. placing amongst the top 20 was Honolulu – always a great place to fly because the weather tends to be mild.
Oh, Gary.. them’s fightin’ words to our pal @Tim Dunn… (is it the weather?)
And Mr Dunn sez……
Hel# has frozen over but I plan to try Spit airlines first class fares with bags included on short haul flights
I’m over SOUTHWORST and their needless self destruction and high fares.
When you consider paying for bags now and seat assignments shortly
To sit in what is the industry’s likely most uncomfortable width seats with poor cushioning AND now the privilege of expiring flight credits
I will use up what credits I have and after that I’ll sit back and watch their likely melt down over the next year
On time stats are often outside the control of the airline. Weather, ATC delays, computer meltdowns (on airport/ATC side). What should be more emphasized is operational recovery. That of course is much harder to measurer.
Given how unpleasant it can be to sit in a 28 inch pitch seat at least you probably won’t have to spend anymore time in said seat than planned.
“ They do a nice job in the air, but they are a mess on the ground and have been an operational mess for years.”
Ha Ha Ha!
Should have a “trigger warning” at the start of the article.
“Worse than Spirit” is a category that should require each of the responsible executives to commit seppuku.
@ Gary — As the most premium airline in the history of the world, DL is and always be #1 by all measures.
first, DL has not been in the top position for the first few months of this year including in the DOT’s latest Air Travel Consumer Report which includes all of the corrective adjustments including the removal of international legs which are likely included in the data above
second, Hawaiian is typically the highest rated airline for on-time but they don’t appear on this list which likely means there is a consolidation of data which is not in line w/ DOT guidelines since HA still operates under its own certificate.
third, it is amazing that Gary can recognize that Texas has had bad weather which has impacted AA and WN’s performance but doesn’t realize the same reason might be the case for every other airline. The SE has had significant amounts of bad weather – wetter than usual – which has impacted Florida and the ATL and CLT hubs.
and fourth, anecdotal months are interesting but no one changes their purchase behavior based on a single month. DL managed to end up in front last year after a rough summer = almost a year ago.
and finally, NK and B6 have cut so much flying that they are overstaffed and have surplus aircraft. It isn’t hard to see improvements with that much extra capacity – but both are losing money.
Just as with UA’s sudden improvement in on-time at EWR, that came as capacity at EWR was dramatically cut which pushed DL easily into the top position in NYC. None of UA’s NYC or B6 or NK’s strategies are financially sustainable.
Heh I flew AC in June after switching up my itinerary the day of. And whadaya know, on-time for the first time I’ve flown them! (Previously each delayed at least 2 hours)
@Tim Dunn — Don’t worry, sir. On the anecdotes and ‘purchase behavior,’ at least for me, Delta is still my preferred US-carrier, always has been, probably always will be, regardless of the weather (or the occasional tech outage). I just can’t stop… ‘keep climbing’… 100 more years!
@L737 — I suspect Air Canada is trying its best to avoid having to pay out ‘compensation’ in accordance with the Canada Air Passenger Protection Regulations. Now, if only, we could have a US equivalent to the APPR (and EU/UK 261). Get delayed 2+ hours due to maintenance, staffing issue, etc. under the airlines’ control, get paid. It’s not great when things don’t go according to plan, but it helps. I know, I know… the weather usually not an ‘eligible’ reason. Anyway, glad things worked for you!
@ 1990 — I feel for you.
@1990 — I last previously flew AC in 2022 and iirc the delay (at YYZ) was because one of the luggage hold net hooks broke and they didn’t have a replacement at the airport. (Was a first for me! Apparently a maintenance manager had to fetch one from off-site.) They denied compensation since it was a “safety issue” – still worth a shot though!
@L737 — Always worth the try!
Gary / your definition of “completion factor” above is just flat out wrong. This is the actual percent of flights completed from A to B not the “likelihood to cancel” which makes it sound forward looking. Indeed it is the number of flights cancelled in the month in question.
A premium Failure by Delta
“There are three kinds of lies – lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Mark Twain
@DesertGhost — Quoting Twain?! Nice. If only @Mike P were around to see it.