Latin American Airlines, Airports Lead 2025 On-Time Rankings

Latin American airlines and airports led global and regional on-time performance rankings in 2025, according to the 17th annual Cirium On-Time Performance Review, released this week. The report places Aeroméxico as the most punctual global airline and highlights multiple airports in Chile, Panama, and Ecuador as top performers by size category, reinforcing the region’s operational standing in commercial aviation.

Cirium says the rankings are based on a standardized definition of punctuality. An on-time flight is defined as one that “arrives within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.” Airlines and airports are classified using criteria that include “capacity, route coverage, and total volume of operations,” according to the data firm cited by Aviacionline.

In the global airline category, Aeroméxico ranked first with an on-time performance rate of 90.02% in 2025. Saudia followed with 86.53%, and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) ranked third with 86.09%. Other Latin American carriers also placed in the global top 10, including Azul Airlines in fourth place with 85.18%, LATAM Airlines in seventh with 82.40%, and Avianca in eighth with 81.73%.

In the Latin America regional ranking, Copa Airlines recorded the highest punctuality rate of any airline in the report at 90.75%. Cirium says that Copa Airlines competes in the regional category because it does not meet the “volume and network diversity thresholds required for the global airline segment.” Aeroméxico ranked second in the region, followed by Gol Linhas Aéreas at 87.75%, Azul Airlines at 85.18%, and LATAM Airlines at 82.40%.

In North America, Delta Air Lines led with an on-time rate of 80.90%. Alaska Airlines ranked second at 79.20%, followed by Spirit Airlines at 78.83%. United Airlines and Southwest Airlines completed the top five, while American Airlines placed sixth with 76.43%.

In the European Union, Iberia Express ranked first with an 88.94% on-time performance rate. SAS and Austrian Airlines followed, and Iberia placed fourth with 83.52%.

Latin American airports also led multiple size-based categories. In the large airport category, defined as handling between 25 million and 40 million seats annually, Santiago International Airport in Chile ranked first globally with 87.04% of departures on time. In the medium airport category, Tocumen International Airport in Panama led with 93.34%. In the small airport category, Guayaquil’s José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport ranked first with 91.47%.

Beyond punctuality rankings, Cirium awarded its Platinum Award to Qatar Airways, citing “operational excellence in a highly complex global network,” after the airline achieved an 84.42% on-time rate across more than 198,000 flights. Istanbul Airport received the Platinum Award for infrastructure, based on “operational complexity and disruption management.”

Virgin Atlantic was recognized for the largest year-over-year improvement, increasing its on-time performance from 74.01% in 2024 to 83.45% in 2025, a gain of 9.44% points.