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Avianca planes at an airport with a mountain in the background. — Avianca was the most on-time global airline of 2023 after pulling itself out of bankruptcy.
Daniel Munoz/AFP via Getty Images

Aviation data provider Cirium unveiled the world's top global airlines for on-time performance.
Colombia's Avianca Airlines took the No. 1 spot for 2023 after recently climbing out of bankruptcy.
Delta Air Lines was the most punctual airline in North America and fourth among global carriers.

Aviation data provider Cirium revealed its annual list of the world's most on-time airlines, breaking down the winners by size and region.

For 2023, Colombia's Avianca Airlines was named the world's most punctual global airline, with an 85.73% on-time arrival rate. The win comes after the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, forcing it to completely redesign its brand and business model.

"The aim of the program is to provide the airline industry and all of its stakeholders with a neutral, third-party perspective on operational performance for individual airlines," Cirium CEO Jeremy Bowen told media during a press conference, noting the data is collected from over 600 sources.

Cirium defines "on-time" as arriving within 14 minutes and 59 seconds of the airline's scheduled arrival time. The carriers also have to meet specific capacity and network requirements to be considered a "global" airline.

For example, Panamanian flag carrier Copa Airlines had higher on-time performance than Avianca at 89.46%, making it the most punctual airline in Latin America. However, it doesn't meet the regional requirement of flying to at least three regions daily to qualify as a global airline.

"We firmly believe that a straight ranking without these considerations would not be useful, and that's due to the very different sizes and operating models of the world's airlines," Bowen told media.

In addition to naming the world's most punctual global airline, Cirium also hands out the "platinum award" to what Bowen described as the best all-around global airline for "operational excellence."

This year's winner is Delta Air Lines for the third consecutive time. The company was also named the fourth most on-time airline among global carriers and the most on-time airline in North America.

According to Bowen, Cirium not only based its winner on punctuality but also the "complexity of its operations and capacity to provide more benefit to passengers and airports."

Cirium's other 2023 winners were Spanish low-cost carrier Iberia Express in Europe, Japan's All Nippon Airways in the Asia Pacific, and Oman Air in the Middle East and Africa. South African airline Safair was the most on-time budget carrier.

Oman and Safair were the only airlines in the report to secure an on-time arrival rate of more than 90%. According to travel data provider OAG, this is achieved by the "very best airlines," though they "remain the exception rather than the rule."

Cirium's senior director of advanced initiatives, David White, told media that the higher rate is made easier to achieve mostly because both airlines are "operating well within their capacity," explaining demand does not outpace available seats in either region.

Here is a closer look at the top five most on-time global airlines of 2023, according to Cirium data.