• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
List of the least on-time airlines in the world in 2024 has been revealed and some might surprise you

Home> News> Travel

Updated 12:44 9 Jan 2025 GMTPublished 14:27 4 Jan 2025 GMT

List of the least on-time airlines in the world in 2024 has been revealed and some might surprise you

The list also revealed that shockingly around one in 17 flights are canceled by one American airline

Joe Yates

Joe Yates

Arriving at the airport two hours before your flight only to discover it is delayed is one of the most frustrating things in life.

You've done your part yet for whatever reason the airline you've just given hundreds of bucks to has let you down on their side... although the majority of the time you fly on-time.

Anyway, aviation analytics provider Cirium has crunched the numbers to provide us with the stats of 2024 to back up the top airlines in the world - and listed the top 10 in North America.

Advert

Looking up at the departures list to see your flight delayed or canceled is one of the most frustrating things in the world (Getty Stock Image)
Looking up at the departures list to see your flight delayed or canceled is one of the most frustrating things in the world (Getty Stock Image)

If you're Canadian, this might not be an easy read... so, before we dive into the carriers who have a tendency for lateness, let's look at the airlines with the most cancellations.

American Airlines leads the way in that respect with 28,649 flights canceled in 2024 - although they chartered by far the most amount of flights, with a total of 2,177,418, which works out at 1.31 percent of their flights getting axed.

It's not a bad statistic at all.

Advert

Meanwhile, out of the 386,082 flights Air Canada took, 10,816 were canceled, or 2.8 percent. At the bottom of Cirium's list falls Cape Air, an airline which started in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Shockingly, it cancels around one in 17 flights - of its 83,101 flights last year, 5,069 were canceled, or 6 percent.

American Airlines canceled the most flight but also chartered the most too (Cirium)
American Airlines canceled the most flight but also chartered the most too (Cirium)

Now, let's talk about the 'top 10 winners' from the North American airlines.

Advert

It's notable that Cape Air didn't make the list, but Delta Air Lines came out on top. In fact, it was ranked the third best in the world when it comes to arriving on-time.

Of its 1,712,529 flights, 83.46 percent of them arrived on-time - which is defined as a flight that arrives within 15 minutes of the scheduled gate arrival.

United Airlines took second place with 80.93 percent of its 1,615,085 arriving on-time, while Alaska Airlines ranked third with 79.25 percent of the 432,871 flights also arriving on-time

Now, at the bottom of the list featured the only two Canadian airlines to make the cut.

Advert

Frontier Airlines, of Denver, came in at eight with 71.57 percent of its 221,171 arriving on-time, while Air Canada saw just 71.36 percent of its 385,703 do so.

In last place - although again it's worth noting that it still made the cut of the top 10 best airlines in North America in terms of arriving on-time - is WestJet, of Calgary in Canada, which saw only 70.99 percent of its 192,084 flights reach their destination on time.

Figures reveal that roughly one in four flights arrive late to their destination in North America (Cirium)
Figures reveal that roughly one in four flights arrive late to their destination in North America (Cirium)

Explaining why Cape Air canceled so many flights last year, a spokesperson for the airline said: "Cape Air is deeply committed to providing safe, reliable, and punctual service to our passengers.

Advert

"Unfortunately, the data pulled from Circium includes flights canceled due to weather along with flights that were canceled over the course of the year due to several unexpected runway construction projects.

"In addition, also included in the flight cancelation number are flights that we remove close-in due to zero passenger bookings."

They continued: "Cape Air is a steward of sustainability and environmentally responsible decision-making, ensuring that we will not fly an empty plane, and that sometimes results in a deleted flight. This high cancelation rate doesn’t always correlate to a passenger impact.

"We strive to minimize cancellations wherever possible and continue to work closely with our partners to improve the efficiency of our operations.

Advert

"When we pull our controllable completion factor which is inclusive of cancelations within our control for the full year 2024 that gives us a 99.3 percent completion rate, or 0.7 percent cancelation."

UNILAD also contacted WestJet, Frontier Airlines and Air Canada for comment.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images

Topics: Travel

Joe Yates
Joe Yates

Joe is a journalist for UNILAD, who particularly enjoys writing about crime. He has worked in journalism for five years, and has covered everything from murder trials to celeb news.

X

@JMYjourno

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

19 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • 19 mins ago

    Everyone's saying the same thing after seeing how many people actually attended Trump's $45,000,000 parade

    Donald Trump attended the military parade for his 79th birthday

    News
  • an hour ago

    Chilling audio of emergency call reveals new details after two Democratic lawmakers were shot in their homes

    Lawmakers Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman were attacked on June 14 by a man who opposed abortion rights

    News
  • an hour ago

    Pilot of Air India flight may have saved thousands of lives with final heroic act moments before crash

    It has been speculated that the pilot's actions could have saved a lot of lives

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Veteran pilot who flew for 40 years says Air India crash was inevitable and explains what he thinks went wrong

    The retired pilot said the tragedy was 'bound to happen'

    News
  • Ten highest-paid actors in 2023 have been revealed and there's some surprise entries
  • 'Worst Christmas songs of all time' have been revealed and the list will shock you
  • Netflix reveals top 10 'most watched' shows of all time and the results might surprise you
  • Donald Trump’s approval ratings have been released and what they show might surprise you