Alaska Airlines Was North America’s Most Punctual Airline In July

Summary

Alaska Airlines leads on-time performance among North American carriers, followed by Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.
This is the second consecutive month that Alaska Airlines has ranked first in on-time performance.
In July, Alaska Airlines operated 36,960 flights with an on-time arrival rate of 82.03%.

Carriers across North America have been scrutinized for their on-time performance, with Alaska Airlines (AS) leading the pack. Delta Air Lines is in second, followed closely by another American heavy-weight, American Airlines.

This is the second month in a row that the Seattle-based carrier has held first place, with July's results showing that 82.03% of flights arrived on time.

White Boeing 737 with Alaska Airlines livery takes off from Sea-Tac Airport with a snow-covered mountain in the background

Photo: Port of Seattle

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36,960 flights

Data provided by Cirium showed that Alaska operated 36,960 flights in July, with on-time arrival sitting at 82.08% and its cancelation rate at just 0.29%. While competition is fierce from the 'big three' in the United States, Alaska was able to stand its ground when it comes to the best on-time performance, beating all others scrutinized.

After Alaska, the following runners-up were Delta, with 146,241 flights operated, with those arriving on time sitting at 78.55%, and American Airlines, who worked more than 178,000 flights, with 73% touching down on time. Next up, Star Alliance member United Airlines scheduled 134,457 flights, of which over 70% arrived as expected. In fifth place, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (WN), which is home to the largest fleet of Boeing 737s, scheduled just shy of 130,000 flights across the continent, where 66% arrived on time.

Lukas Souza United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 LAX

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

Low-cost carrier's results are also in, with Spirit (NK) taking flight 24,614 times, at a rate of 63.70% arriving on time. The airline canceled just 0.74% of its services. Denver's Frontier (F9), which had 16,614 flights scheduled, and 57% were able to land on time.

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Further north

Heading up to Canada, the results for on-time arrivals for July placed Westjet as the leading carrier, operating a modest 17,405 flights where 61.88% arrived as scheduled. The Calgary-based airline operated 98.05% of its schedule, of which 99.92% of flights were tracked.

The nation's flag carrier, Air Canada (AC), which touched down 36,017 times, had a challenging month in which only 51.25% of flights landed as expected, canceling almost 7% of services for July.

“Industry-leading”

In Q2 2022, Alaska Air Group’s total earnings were $139 million. At a $240 million profit in Q2 2023, the group recorded a profit increase of more than $100 million. Among net income excluding special items and mark-to-market fuel hedge accounting adjustments, the company reported a profit of $387 million which was still an improvement from last year. Generated adjusted pre-tax margins of 18.3% were recorded, a 250-basis point increase over the second quarter of 2019, according to the company.

White Boeing 737 with Alaska Airlines livery flies over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

Photo: Alaska Airlines

Benn Minicucci, the CEO of Alaska Air Group, spoke about this year’s Q2 results.

"People are hungry to travel, and our frontline employees are delivering the safe, reliable, and caring experience that people expect when they fly with us. I'm so proud of our team for knocking it out of the park and delivering industry-leading operational and financial outcomes.”

Sources: Cirium