Global 2022 On-Time Performance Results Released

Global aviation analytics firm Cirium has released the results of its worldwide 2022 On-Time Performance Review. The company looks at punctuality among airlines and airports around the world and publishes an annual report highlighting the top performers.

Azul Brazilian Airlines took the top spot among airlines, followed closely by Japanese carriers All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines. Cirium considers an on-time arrival one that that arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled gate arrival time. The top five global airlines for on-time performance were as follows:

To be classified as a global airline, Cirium requires that a carrier be within the top 10% of passenger airlines by capacity and volume and that it serve at least three worldwide regions out of the five defined by the company: Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Latin America and North America. AirlineGeeks has previously reported on the firm’s North America on-time rankings.

The review also lists top performers among low-cost carriers:

The global airport category requires airports to be within the top 10% of airports worldwide by flights served in a month and for the airport to serve at least three regions. The top performers for global airports were as follows:

Cirium further categorizes airports by size into large, medium and small airports. The winners in these categories were Osaka International Airport, Chubu Centrair International Airport and Miyazaki Airport, respectively. All three of these airports are located in Japan.

Overall, Japanese airports have once again dominated the airport rankings, earning the top spot in all four categories. Japanese airlines have similarly performed very well in their categories, further reflecting the country’s reputation for punctuality. The report notes these trends, pointing out that, “Japanese airlines and airports continue to deliver passengers to their arrival gates on time – pandemic or no pandemic.”

The year brought significant challenges to the air travel industry and global on-time performance was down by approximately two percent in 2022, according to the analytics firm. The report cites global staffing shortages across the air travel sector as a major contributor to decreased on-time performance, stating that, “although the aviation industry collectively worked hard to keep pace with recovering demand, they fell short in many cases due to staffing issues worldwide necessitating reducing flights to work within staffing constraints.”

“Staffing shortages will continue to challenge the global air travel industry and could have long-term impacts affecting on-time performance and reliability throughout 2023 and beyond.”