Hate delays, cancellations? This is North America's most punctual airline

Delta reached 251 cancel-free days in 2018

Few things are more frustrating than having a flight delayed or canceled while traveling -- not to mention if that leads to a missed layover or spending the night at an airport in a city between home and your destination.

Because of that, we thought weā€™d let you in on some handy information. For the second year in a row, Delta has been named 2018ā€™s most punctual major international airline by FlightGlobal. To boot, the airline actually upped its game by .19 percent since 2017.

FlightGlobal, which provides aviation intelligence through data and analytics, reported that 86 percent of Deltaā€™s flights make it to their destination within just under 15 minutes of the scheduled arrive time.

To put that in perspective, here are punctuality percentages of other mainline airlines:

  • Southwest: 78.2 percent
  • United Airlines: 78.06 percent
  • American Airlines: 77.65 percent
  • JetBlue: 71.37 percent

The rankings are determined by an analysis of more than 120,000 flights per day, with real-time flight status, departure and arrival data.

Delta reported that it had a record 251 days without a mainline cancellation.

ā€œThis is yet another testament to the hard work of Delta people, who have worked diligently to serve more customers than at any time in Delta's history with unprecedented operational reliability,ā€ said Ed Bastian, Deltaā€™s CEO.Ā ā€œMy appreciation for the work Delta people do has never been higher, and Iā€™m looking forward to an exciting 2019.ā€


About the Author:

Dawn Jorgenson, Graham Media Group Branded Content Managing Editor, began working with the group in April 2013. She graduated from Texas State University with a degree in electronic media.