AirCanada is the most unpunctual airline in North America

It was ranked 10th on the list.

A new report from aviation analytics firm Cirium found that in 2023, just 63% of AirCanada's flights landed on time. This result made the airline giant the worst carrier among major airlines in North America.

This AirCanada performance in absolute numbers means that approximately 140,000 aircraft arrived at their destination more than 15 minutes after scheduled arrival. A spokesperson for the airline noted that the trend remains positive compared to the results during the year:

"However, our operation has been consistently improving so that by year-end our monthly on-time performance showed a double-digit improvement over July, a significant increase."

Canada's other major airline, WestJet, ranked seventh in North America at 69%.

First place was deservedly awarded to American Delta Air Lines with an annualized 85%. The company remained the most punctual carrier on the continent for a significant part of the year, reaching an outstanding 91.29% in November. It was followed by Alaska Airlines, also from the U.S., with an annualized 82%. In the middle of the year, this airline broke into the leaders, but at the end of the year it gave up its position, dropping as low as 5th place in the November ranking.

JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines are the worst U.S. carriers, nestled in the final top between Canada's AirCanada and WestJet.

Why is it so bad?

Cirium prepares similar rankings for other regions: for Asia-Pacific, for Latin America, for Europe and for Africa and the Middle East. For comparison, the same 10th and last place in the ranking of European peers was occupied by Dutch carrier KLM with a score of 76%, which is 13 points higher than Air Canada.

Air Canada cites a shortage of air traffic controllers, bad weather and high demand among the reasons for frequent delays. CEO Michael Rousseau acknowledged Air Canada's relatively low rating, including after a wave of flight delays in June and July.

Since the summer, the company has increased its staff and modernized its technology, but it hasn't helped much. The company now considers "severe weather" (in particular, thunderstorms) and problems with the global supply chain to be the main problem.