Demand for air travel continued to rise in 2024, led by a recovery in international travel.

From January to October alone, global passenger-mile revenue, a measure of demand, rose nearly 11% yr over yr, in keeping with the International Air Transport Association. In 2025, IATA estimates aircraft departures at 40 million, a rise of 4.6% in comparison with 2024.

Airlines sought to supply more flights and increase premium seats, which led to higher revenue, particularly on long-haul flights. Challenges continued for some airlines, starting from a shortage of latest aircraft to financial difficulties. However, many passengers didn’t face the identical flight disruptions as they did through the acute staff shortages attributable to the pandemic.

According to a rating published on Thursday by Cirium, the airlines with the best punctuality are present everywhere in the world. The aviation data company considers on-time arrival as arriving inside quarter-hour of the scheduled time. Delta Air Lines was at the highest of the North American rankings despite his difficulty recovering from it CrowdStrike There was an outage in July that caused 1000’s of flights to be canceled.

(punctuality rate in brackets)

1. Aeromexico (86.7%)
2. Saudia Airlines (86.35%)
3. Delta Air Lines (83.46%)
4. LATAM Airlines (82.89%)
5. Qatar Airways (82.83%)
6. Azul Airlines (82.42%)
7. Avianca (81.80%)
8. Iberia (81.58%)
9. Scandinavian Airlines (81.40%)
10. United Airlines (80.93%)

Indoor waterfalls, rooftop pools, yoga studios.

Airports today are equipped with many extras, but most travelers would gladly exchange these for flights that at all times arrive on time.

The air passenger rights company AirHelp 239 airports in 69 countries ratedwith a deal with punctuality of flights from May 2023 to April 2024.

This value accounted for 60% of every airport's overall rating. Punctuality was defined as flights arriving inside quarter-hour of the published arrival time.

Passenger opinions about each airport, in addition to traveler rankings of food and shops, made up the remaining 40% of the rating, based on AirHelp's website.

Here are the outcomes.

However, if we only have a look at the punctuality rankings, we get a special list, dominated by South Africa, Colombia, Brazil and the USA:

1. Cape Town Airport, South Africa — 8.6
2. Brasilia Airport – Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek, Brazil – 8.6
3. Tocumen Airport, Panama City — 8.6
4. Nagoya Chubu Airport, Japan — 8.5
5. Osaka Itami Airport, Japan — 8.5
6. Salt Lake City Airport, USA — 8.4
7. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, USA — 8.4
8. Doha Hamad Airport, Qatar — 8.3
9. Belém Val-de-Cans Airport, Brazil – 8.3
10. Bogotá El Dorado Airport, Colombia – 8.3
11. Cartagena Rafael Núñez Airport, Colombia – 8.3
12. Medellin Jose Maria Cordova Airport, Colombia — 8.3
13. Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport, South Africa — 8.2
14. Recife/Guararapes–Gilberto Freyre Airport, Brazil – 8.2
15. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, USA — 8.2

These figures indicate the proportion of flights that arrive on time, based on AirHelp's website.

“A value of 8.5, for example, means that 85% of flights were on time,” it says.

However, based on the rating, the airports with the worst average punctuality scores are Tunisia's Tunis-Carthage airport (48% average punctuality), London Gatwick airport (57%) and Portugal's Lisbon-Humberto Delgado airport (58%).

To obtain the rankings, AirHelp says it compared data from authorities, airports and flight tracking providers.

According to flight analytics company OAG, punctuality is mostly related to the operations of airlines and airports.

However, other aspects play a task to.

“It is inevitable that external disruptions such as adverse weather conditions, traffic jams, accidents and industrial action may cause delays,” the corporate says on its website.

Nevertheless, based on the OAG, punctuality is a very important indicator for airlines and airports to distinguish and market their brands.

When taking a look at passenger opinion in isolation, Nashville Airport, Singapore Changi Airport and Doha Hamad Airport got here out on top, based on the rating.

Doha Hamad, which ranks first overall, also receives the best scores in food and shopping, followed by Dubai Airport and Japan's Sapporo New Chitose Airport.

Hamad International Airport was also named “World’s Best Airline” by the aviation rankings firm. Skytrax In April.

The complete rating of the 239 airlines is accessible on the AirHelp website.