This U.S. Airline Was the Most On-time Carrier in May

The results for the most punctual domestic airlines from May 2024 are in, offering a glimpse of what travelers can expect heading into the peak summer season.

Delta Air Lines took the crown as the most on-time U.S. carrier, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company. The major domestic carrier, often renowned for its reliability, had an on-time rate of 81.04 percent of more than 147,000 flights tracked in May. However, this percentage marked nearly a 5% decrease in on-time arrivals from the previous month. 

Cirium defines on-time departures based on flights that arrive at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Following Delta for the most punctual carriers were Alaska Airlines (79.04 percent), JetBlue (76.58 percent), United Airlines (75.95 percent), Spirit Airlines (73.52 percent), American Airlines (69.64 percent), and Frontier Airlines (66.47 percent).

“American Airlines likely faced challenges due to April weather conditions at their DFW hub, further affecting their ongoing OTP [On Time Performance] struggles,” said a Cirium analyst, Jim Hetzel, in a statement. “With June ushering in the busy travel season and potential storm activity in the Southeast, as well as increased flight volumes, we will closely monitor weather and performance metrics impacting North American carriers.”

For many travelers, cancellation rates are just as important as on-time arrivals, which are measured by the completion factor data from Cirium. The number of canceled flights in North America nearly doubled from 6,217 in April to 11,491 in May.

That said, Alaska and JetBlue tied for first place with 99.61 percent of scheduled flights completed, with Delta trailing shortly behind with a 99.6 percent completion factor. Ranking at the bottom of the list for May, American canceled 2.34 percent of flights, followed by Frontier with 1.65% of canceled flights.

May was a busy month that kicked off the start of the summer season with Memorial Day weekend. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported more than 18 million travelers over the holiday, an increase of 6.4 percent compared to the same period last year — signaling what’s to come for the rest of the summer.