Azul Brazilian airline took first place as the most punctual airline in the world in 2022. Credit: Horacio Villalobos/Corbis/Getty Images
(CNN) --
This week we saw news of passengers stranded in the Philippines after a power outage, flight delays in Florida and Denver, as well as the ongoing saga over the Southwest Airlines holiday crisis.
Welcome to 2023, where a truly on-time airline is front-page news.
In fact, it is the South American airline Azul Brazilian Airlines, which last year had the best punctuality performance globally, according to a new report from aviation analysis firm Cirium.
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During what was a particularly chaotic 12 months for aviation, Azul Brazilian operated nearly 280,000 flights last year, of which 88.93% arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time at the gate, Cirium's measure of performance. .
In the rest of South America, LATAM Airlines from Chile (86.31% punctuality in more than 450,000 flights) ranked fourth in Cirium's ranking of international airlines, while Avianca from Colombia (83.48% and almost 145,000 flights) was sixth.
The Azul Brazilian airline took first place as the most punctual airline in the world in 2022. (Credit: Horacio Villalobos/Corbis/Getty Images)
The United States leads in airports
The United States was also well represented, both on airlines and at airports.
For the second year in a row, Delta Airlines received the Cirium Platinum Award for Global Operational Excellence, which weighs on-time performance alongside operational complexity and an airline's ability to limit the impact of flight disruption to its passengers.
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Although Delta ranked fifth on the global leaderboard, an impressive 83.63% of its million-plus flights were on time.
United Airlines (80.46%) was in eighth place and American Airlines (78.29%) in number 10, while Southwest trailed behind with 74.06%.
Six of the ten most punctual airports in the world are located in the United States, with Salt Lake City International Airport in first place.
Cirium reports that 83.87% of its 226,545 flights took off within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time.
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A bad year for the UK
A Japan Airlines plane takes off from Tokyo's Haneda Airport in 2019. Credit: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
The Asia-Pacific region was considerably slower to open air travel after covid-19 compared to the rest of the world.
Japan reopened its international borders in October and two of its airlines, All Nippon Airways (88.61%) and Japan Airlines (88.00%), reached 2nd and 3rd places respectively in the Cirium ranking table.
Japan's StarFlyer was named the world's leading low-cost airline (95.23% on-time on nearly 22,000 flights) and Tokyo's Haneda had the best airport performance globally for on-time departures (90.33% on-time on over of 370,000 flights).
It was also a great year for travel to the Middle East, with Expo 2020 Dubai delayed and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, but Emirates (at No. 7) and Qatar Airways (at No. 10) were up to the challenge. .
No European airlines or airports appeared in Cirium's top 10 global leaders and no UK airlines or airports qualified for its top-performing Europe regional ranking.
The Spanish Iberia, with 85.87% punctuality in more than 91,000 flights, was named the best in Europe.
The best airlines in the world in terms of punctuality, according to Cirium:
Azul Brazilian Airlines (88.93% punctuality; 279,722 flights).
All Nippon Airlines (88.61% punctuality; 162,370 flights).
Japan Airlines (88.00% punctuality; 165,981 flights).
LATAM Airlines (86.31% punctuality; 451,651 flights).
Delta Air Lines (83.63% punctuality; 1,004,684 flights).
Avianca SA (83.48% punctuality; 144,525 flights).
Emirates (81.30% punctuality; 137,589 flights).
United Airlines (80.46% punctuality; 789,200 flights).
Qatar Airways (78.32% punctuality; 152,377 flights).
American Airlines (78.29% punctuality; 1,076,100 flights).
The best performing global airports of 2022 were:
Haneda Airport, Tokyo (90.33% punctuality; 373,264 flights).
Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore, India (84.08% punctuality; 201,897 flights).
Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah (83.87% punctuality; 226,545 flights).
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Michigan (82.62% punctuality; 271,963 flights).
Philadelphia International Airport, Pennsylvania (82.54% punctuality; 233,777 flights).
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota (81.95% punctuality; 276,346 flights).
Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi (81.84% punctuality; 411,205 flights).
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington (81.04% punctuality; 383,250 flights).
El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá (80.72% punctuality; 273,721 flights).
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, North Carolina (80.68% punctuality; 457,871 flights).
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