Delta Air Lines was named the world’s best performing airline of 2021 for operational excellence by Cirium, the aviation analytics firm, in its On-Time Performance Review 2021. Delta won the new annual Platinum Award from Cirium for outstanding performance “considering the complexity of the airline’s operation, volume of flights, diversity of its network and other key operational factors.” Cirium’s 2021 On-Time Performance Review reflects the second half of the year, when flight volumes returned. Airlines globally operated nearly 25 million flights over that period, a 10% increase over 2020 but still down 36% compared with 2019. Also in the review:
- All Nippon Airways was named most on-time airline in the Global category, with 95% of its flights on time. It was followed by Japan Airlines (94.1%).
- Delta was most on-time North American Airline, with 87.7% of its flights arriving on time, followed by Alaska Airlines (81.7%) and American Airlines (80.5%).
- Solaseed Air, a Japanese domestic operator and ANA affiliate, topped the Low-Cost Carrier category, with 87.9% of its flights on time.
The report also identified the world’s leading airports in on-time performance, with Haneda Airport in Tokyo ranking at the top globally, with 95.6% of flights departing on time.