Canada’s Airline Report Card for October 2024

Each month, aviation analytics company Cirium releases its global on-time performance data for airlines and airports, providing insights into how they’re performing when compared to their peers.

Additionally, in Canada, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) updates its website with information around customer complaints and enforcement actions on a rolling basis.

Our monthly airline report card looks at the latest developments in the world of aviation from a Canadian perspective, calling out the top performers and looking at trends in Canada and beyond.

Airline On-Time Performance for October 2024

Despite improving slightly in September over the month of August, Canada’s two largest airlines continued to lag behind other North American carriers in October when it comes to their on-time performance.

In order for a flight to be considered “on-time,” it must land within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time.

According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, regarding on-time performance in October for Canada and the United States, Air Canada remained in ninth spot in October with an on-time performance rate of 80.45%, while WestJet slipped to seventh (83.32%), down from its ranking of sixth in September (82.10%).

It is worth mentioning that WestJet managed to make the top ten ranking globally, and we’ll get to those numbers a little later on.

In North America, the top two performers remain unchanged for the month of October. Delta Air Lines retained its number one spot with an impressive on-time arrival rate of 90.53%, up from 87.81% in September, while United Airlines followed closely behind at 88.13%.

American Airlines, which ranked fourth in September, bumped Southwest Airlines out of that spot in October, with an on-time arrival rate of 86.17%. Southwest dropped two spots from September to October, landing in fifth behind JetBlue.

Overall, while airlines in North America saw an improvement in their on-time performance scores, Cirium reported a 35% increase in flight cancellations for October mostly due to the impact Hurricane Milton had on travel.

During the month of October, a total of 8,113 flights were cancelled compared to 6,001 in September.

Here’s a look at the full top ten rankings for how North American airlines placed for the month of September when it comes to on-time performance:

1. Delta Air Lines
2. United Airlines
3. American Airlines
4. JetBlue
5. Southwest
6. Spirit Airlines
7. WestJet
8. Alaska Airlines
9. Air Canada
10. Frontier Airlines

After jumping up three spots in September, WestJet slipped a notch to seventh in October. But interestingly enough, WestJet has managed to sneak into tenth spot in the top ten ranking of airlines globally.

In fact, the top ten list of global airlines looks a lot different in October compared to the month of September.

Global On-Time Performance

Globally, Cirium reports airlines and airports experienced a decrease in their on-time performance by up to 6% for the month of October.

Aeromexico maintained its position as the global leader with an on-time performance of 91.88%, a slight improvement from September (91.13%).

The airline’s main hub, Mexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX), retained its third-place position in the global airports category with an on-time performance of 89.79%.

Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) snagged the number two ranking, bumping Riyadh King Khalid International Airport (RUH) from second in September to third for the month of October.

Overall, the list for the top ten on-time airlines globally looks considerably different for the month of October.

Most notably, Avianca, Qatar Airways, LATAM Airlines, Azul, and JAL, who ranked in the top ten in September, didn’t even make the list for October. While Hainan Airlines, SAS, ANA, and WestJet are all newcomers to the top ten in October.

The top ten list for the most on-time airlines globally is as follows:

1. Aeromexico
2. Delta Air Lines
3. Saudia
4. United Airlines
5. Hainan Airlines
6. SAS
7. American Airlines
8. JetBlue
9. ANA
10. WestJet

Insights from the Canadian Transportation Agency’s Website

While arriving on time is what all travelers hope for, so too is an overall positive passenger experience. But not all passengers say they’re getting it, and that’s where the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) comes in.

The CTA is an independent regulatory body that takes a look at complaints from passengers and attempts to mediate and resolve any issues.

It releases a quarterly list of airlines with an average of one or more complaints per 100 flights in Canada.

Taking a look at the last quarter with data from July to September 2024, Porter Airlines continues to soar above the rest of the Canadian carriers with the lowest number of complaints on average, seeing just 1.5 complaints per 100 flights.

Porter is no doubt still flying high on its ranking of having the best economy class worldwide according to the 2024 USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards.

Canada’s sole ultra-low-cost carrier, Flair Airlines, once again found itself on the opposite end of the scale, with an average of 16 complaints per 100 flights from July to September 2024, the most out of all Canadian carriers. It is however an improvement over the average of 20 complaints it received from April to June 2024, and it would appear Flair is committed to doing even better.

The airline has just announced an “on-time guarantee.” This means that if your flight is delayed by more than 60 minutes from its scheduled arrival time or if it’s cancelled within 72 hours before the scheduled departure, Flair will give you a $60 (CAD) e-voucher.

There’s no opting in required, and passengers will automatically be enrolled if their flight is eligible.

Sunwing registered the next highest number of complaints for the same time period with 15 per 100 flights, up from 9.5 from April to June 2024. Air Transat saw 4.7 complaints per 100 flights, down from 4.8, while both Air Canada and WestJet inched higher in the complaints department.

Air Canada saw 5.6 complaints (up from 4.7) and WestJet received 7.7 complaints per 100 flights, up from 5 complaints for the previous period of April to June 2024.

The CTA also publishes notices of violations issued by enforcement officers against airlines. For the month of October, it issued a total of four monetary penalties to airlines totaling $41,000.

Conclusion

Canada’s two major airlines continue to fall behind the competition when it comes to on-time performance among North American airlines.

According to aviation analytics company Cirium’s monthly on-time rankings report for October, WestJet landed in the seventh spot, down from sixth in September, while Air Canada retained its ninth place ranking.

WestJet also managed to break into the top ten list of Global airlines, with a ranking of tenth for its on-time performance.

In terms of assessing passenger experience, Canada’s Transportation Agency (CTA) releases a quarterly list of airlines with an average of one or more complaints per 100 flights in Canada.

Based on their data, Porter Airlines continues to soar above other Canadian carriers with the least amount of complaints, followed by Air Transat, Air Canada, and WestJet. Flair Airlines received the highest number of complaints per 100 flights.