Business Wire

CIRIUM

29.12.2021 14:02:52 CET | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Delta Air Lines Named as the World’s Best Performing Airline of 2021; All Nippon Airways as the Most On-time Globally

Cirium, the aviation analytics firm, today released its On-Time Performance Review 2021, the global standard for airline and airport operational performance. Cirium awarded Delta Air Lines with the Platinum Award, recognizing the Atlanta-based carrier as the world’s best performing airline of the year for Operational Excellence.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211228005093/en/

The new annual award is presented to an airline with outstanding performance considering the complexity of the airline’s operation, volume of flights, diversity of its network and other key operational factors. The Platinum Award is based on a proprietary algorithm that considers an array of parameters and provides an output to compare airlines on a one-to-one basis as far as possible to ensure fairness, accuracy, and integrity.

“It was another challenging year for the aviation industry, however 2021 was certainly better than 2020, marking the start of the recovery,” said Jeremy Bowen, CEO, Cirium. “Delta Air Lines stood out this year when you consider the carrier’s size, network, and passenger delay minutes, as well as the number of completed flights. It’s an outstanding effort and achievement during a difficult period. All Nippon Airlines (ANA) is recognized as the most on-time airline in the world. Delta, ANA and the regional winners are congratulated.”

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, a 10% increase from 2020, but still down 36% compared to 2019.

The report reviews the top performing airlines and airports globally and in specific categories.

Global Airlines
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is named as the most on-time airline in the Global category with 95% of its flights on time. The carrier was followed closely by Japan Airlines (JAL) with 94.1% — reflecting the high standard set by Japanese aviation when it comes to on-time performance. In third place was Aeroflot (91%), followed by LATAM (88.7%) and Delta Air Lines (87.8%).

North America
Delta Air Lines takes home the award for most on-time North American airline with 87.7% of its flights arriving on time. The carrier topped Alaska Airlines (81.7%) and American Airlines (80.5%).

Europe
Spanish IAG carriers — Vueling (92.1%), Iberia Express (91.8%) and Iberia (90.3%) — took three of the top five spots in the European category. Notably, Vueling has expanded internationally in 2021 with 65% of its third quarter capacity dedicated to international flights.

Asia Pacific
In the Asia Pacific, leading Japanese airlines ANA and JAL rank at the top. Airlines that operate a flight schedule consisting mainly of international flights wherein a state of near hibernation in Asia. Those carriers with a sizeable domestic market have fared better. This year’s Top 10 in Asia-Pacific is dominated by airlines with a significant domestic operation.

Latin America
Copa Airlines, an airline that was close to a complete shutdown at the start of the pandemic, is making a strong recovery and operating its expanding flight schedules at a very high level of on-time performance. The carrier won the Latin America category with 90.3% of its flights on time, followed by Aerolineas Argentinas (89.2%) and Azul (88.9%).

Middle East and Africa
South African Low-Cost Carrier, Safair, outperforms in the Middle East and Africa category as 96.4% of its flights were on time. The airline did not feature in the On-Time Performance Review 2019, however has expanded its international services to Mauritius — a holiday destination for South Africans — with focused operations. Royal Jordanian (89%) and Emirates (86.7%) rounded out the performers in the region.

Low-Cost Carriers
Solaseed Air, also a Japanese domestic operator and ANA affiliate, tops the Low-Cost Carrier category with 97.9% of its flights on time in 2021. The airline flies a network of 14 routes and has very nimble operations.

Top Global Airports
The report also identifies the world’s leading airports in on-time performance and Tokyo’s international airport, Haneda Airport, ranks as the most on-time airport globally. In 2021, 95.6% of the airport’s flights departed on time.

Cirium’s on-time performance reporting for airlines and airports is the longest-standing of such analysis in the industry, going back 13 years. Cirium resumed reporting in June 2021, as flight volumes returned, with regular monthly updates that help gauge the industry’s performance in getting passengers from point A to point B, on time. Cirium’s on-time performance analysis is based on flight data from over 600 sources of real-time flight information. For an airline to be on time, their flights must arrive at the airport gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.

Click here to download the complimentary On-Time Performance Review 2021.

Ends

About Cirium
Cirium brings together powerful data and analytics to keep the world moving. Delivering insight, built from decades of experience in the sector, enabling travel companies, aircraft manufacturers, airports, airlines and financial institutions, among others, to make logical and informed decisions which shape the future of travel, growing revenues and enhancing customer experiences. Cirium is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The shares of RELX PLC are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX.

For further information please follow Cirium updates on LinkedIn or Twitter or visit www.cirium.com .

Link:

ClickThru

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Pinion Insurance Appoints Gary S. Maier as US CEO29.9.2026 14:31:00 CEST | Press release

Veteran insurance executive to lead US growth as specialty carrier expands its MGA platform and technology offerings Pinion Insurance, the London-headquartered specialty insurance carrier established earlier this year, today announced the appointment of Gary S. Maier as US Chief Executive Officer, effective today. Maier brings nearly four decades of insurance industry experience across underwriting, distribution, MGAs, product development, and corporate development. He will lead Pinion’s US operations and drive the expansion of its specialty insurance platform, which provides capacity to MGAs across the US, UK and European markets. “Gary’s experience is a strong fit with Pinion’s focus on underwriting excellence, innovation, and close collaboration with MGAs,” said Laura Baird, Pinion Co-Founder and Group Chief Technology Officer. “He is a highly respected industry leader and innovator, and we are delighted to welcome him to the team.” Maier joins Pinion from Ledger Risk Markets, where

New AI Research from GFT Technologies: 84% of CIOs Have Canceled an AI Project Over Legacy System Limits29.9.2026 14:07:00 CEST | Press release

Global survey of 945 CIOs and CTOs at $500M+ companies finds outdated infrastructure, AI bubble fears, geopolitical and regulatory uncertainty, and workforce distrust are slowing meaningful AI progress A new AI study from GFT Technologies, an AI-centric global digital transformation company, finds that legacy infrastructure is one of the biggest obstacles to enterprise AI success, with the vast majority of technology leaders reporting it has forced them to abandon AI initiatives. The GFT survey, conducted by Wakefield Research among 945 CIOs and CTOs across 19 countries at companies with at least $500M in annual revenue (fielded August 11-31, 2026), reveals that AI's promise and its risks are accelerating in tandem. Key themes include legacy infrastructure undermining AI initiatives, skepticism over AI's return on investment, geopolitical and regulatory uncertainty reshaping strategy, distrust of how companies explain workforce decisions, and rising personal risk for technology leaders

Heaviside Industries Awarded $99M IDIQ Contract to Provide MOTH Spectrum Analyzers to U.S. Army29.9.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release

MOTH’s low size, weight, power, and cost enable distributed spectrum awareness in support of U.S. Army EMSO priorities Heaviside Industries, a builder of multi-domain precision munitions platforms, announced it has been awarded a $99 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Army to deliver its MOTH radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyzers in support of the Army’s electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO) priorities. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260929455358/en/ The five-year contract was awarded by U.S. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland and includes system procurement, fielding, upgrades, and sustainment. As unmanned systems proliferate and adversaries increasingly exploit the electromagnetic spectrum, the Army requires EMSO capabilities that are scalable, adaptable, and rapidly fieldable to maintain an advantage in the spectr

Royal Yacht International Represents Buyer in Landmark 132M Lürssen as Founder Predicts: “The Billion-dollar Yacht Is Coming”29.9.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release

The Monaco-Miami advisory firm is building a different model for ultra-high-value yacht acquisitions, combining access, negotiation, technical expertise and selective, founder-led representation. Royal Yacht International has announced PROJECT M, a fully custom 132-metre Lürssensuperyacht exceeding 6,000 GT. But for Royal Yacht International Founder and CEO Tommaso Chiabra, the project is less about size than what it represents. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260928365204/en/ Project M At the very top of the luxury market, the world’s most exceptional yachts are becoming increasingly difficult to reproduce. Only a small number of shipyards can execute projects of this scale. Construction takes years. Specialist capacity is finite. Build slots are scarce. And replacement cost can change dramatically between contract signing and delivery. “People look at purchase price. Sophisticated owners look at replacement

Kyowa Kirin and Knight Therapeutics Enter Into Exclusive Distribution Agreement for POTELIGEO® (mogamulizumab) for Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL) Patients Across Latin America29.9.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release

This agreement marks the first introduction of Kyowa Kirin's POTELIGEO® in Latin America and expands access for patients.Knight Therapeutics to exclusively distribute POTELIGEO® across Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.The agreement supports Kyowa Kirin’s mission to address barriers to diagnosis, treatment access and disease awareness for CTCL patients across the region. Kyowa Kirin International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. (TSE:4151, Kyowa Kirin), today announced the signing of an exclusive distribution agreement with Knight Therapeutics (“Knight”) (TSX: GUD) for the distribution of mogamulizumab in select countries in Latin America. Under the terms of the agreement, Knight will be responsible for seeking the necessary regulatory approvals and commercialising mogamulizumab for mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sézary syndrome (SS), two subtypes of CTCL, a rare non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Knight will hold exclusive distributi

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye