Delta Maintains OTP Dominance Among Legacy Carriers; Salt Lake City Airport Earns Five Stars

Flight information provider OAG has released its On-time Performance (OTP) Star Ratings, accrediting the top airlines and airports around the world for superior performance. Delta Air Lines once again demonstrated on-time excellence, finishing as the only legacy carrier to achieve 4 stars. Among North American airlines, Delta trailed only Hawaiian Airlines – the only U.S. carrier to achieve 5 stars.

OAG’s biannual rating system is a global accreditation program that recognizes exceptional OTP across all airports and airlines regardless of size, geographic location or aviation peer group. The awards showcase the industry’s premier performers, with the top ten percent of airlines and airports receiving 5 stars. The awards are then distributed based on performance across all airlines and airports, with the poorest performers receiving 1 star.

Delta’s performance stands out, as it not only topped its mainline competition, but finished ahead of smaller airlines such as Alaska Airlines and Sun Country Airlines. In a U.S. air travel ecosystem that relies on major hubs, it’s easy for a single delay or cancellation to knock an entire day of flights off schedule. Despite managing one of the largest fleets in the world, Delta has remained a cut above its competitors. Southwest (78.9 OTP), American (78.8 OTP) and United (78.5 OTP) all performed admirably, earning 3 stars respectively.

Some of North America’s largest airport hubs also earned high marks in OTP Star Rating, with Salt Lake City International Airport earning an impressive 5 stars for an 85.2 percent on-time performance. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (82.9 percent), Detroit Metropolitan Airport (83.1 percent), Charlotte Douglas International Airport (82.2 percent) and Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (85.1 percent) all performed strongly for airports of their size. In fact, Minneapolis narrowly missed out on becoming the largest North American airport to earn 5 stars.

“Today’s travelers are evaluating their air travel options through a variety of considerations, and punctuality is increasingly becoming a deciding factor,” said John Grant, senior analyst at OAG. “On-time performance is viewed as an indicator to judge the quality of an airline or airport. As a result, many airlines and airports continue to track this critical metric and invest to optimize operations and improve their performance.”

The OTP Star Ratings are measured on a rolling 12-month period, and awarded twice a year in April and October. To achieve an OTP star rating, the world’s airlines and airports must meet two simple criteria: all airlines and airports must have a minimum of 600 operations a month and OAG must receive flight status information for no less than 80 percent of scheduled flights within the 12-month period.

(Source: OAG news release)

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