- The US Department of Transportation revealed the rankings for the top ten major US airlines in terms of on-time percentage for 2019.
- Most carriers performed better in 2019 than they did in 2018 and no airline scored less than 70%, highlighting a positive trend in the industry for on-time arrivals.
- Overall performance still declined slightly.
- Legacy airlines ranked in the top spots with only one of the big three airlines being featured in the top five.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The results are in for the most on-time major US airlines for 2019, with the Department of Transportation releasing the ranking in its annual Air Travel Consumer Report.
While the rankings remained pretty constant from 2018, with a few exceptions, the overall trend in the industry shows airlines are becoming more punctual while overall performance declined slightly.
No airline on the list ranked lower than 70%, an improvement from last year that saw Frontier Airlines dip slightly below that number and JetBlue Airlines nearly falling short as well.
Though on-time arrivals have improved more the most part, the highest-ranking airline still fell short of a 90% or greater on-time arrival average.
Here's the full list.
10. Frontier Airlines
Ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines ranked last on the on-time list for 2019, with an average on-time percentage of 73.1. The carrier operates a mixed hub-and-spoke and point-to-point route network, with the former centered around Frontier's main hub in Denver, Colorado.
9. JetBlue Airways
Although 2019 saw JetBlue take delivery of a new aircraft type and announce a historic expansion to Europe for 2021, its on-time percentage for the year was the second-lowest out of the top ten major carriers. The New York-based low-cost carrier only averaged 73.5% on-time arrivals for the year.
8. United Airlines
The nation's third-largest carrier failed to surpass any of its legacy carrier competitors in terms of on-time arrivals, earning a percentage of 75.2 for 2019. The carrier, however, just enacted a new program called connection saver that would hold flights for connecting passengers if the flights were in jeopardy of leaving without them, potentially delaying flights.
United was one of the carriers affected by the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max as the carrier operated the Max 9 variant.
7. American Airlines
American Airlines narrowly beat its competitor United by 2.2 percentage points earning an on-time arrival average of 77.4%. American has historically struggled with flight delays during the peak summer season.
The world's largest airline also faced a dispute with aircraft mechanics and was affected by the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max.
6. Allegiant Air
Allegiant Air managed to do better than its ultra-low-cost competitor Frontier Airlines, earning an on-time arrival rate of 78.7% for the year. The Las Vegas-based carrier recently retired its fleet of aging aircraft including the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series of aircraft and Boeing 757-200 in favor of a newer all-Airbus fleet.
5. Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines ranked the highest out of any low-cost carrier in the US, coming in with a 79.5% on-time arrival rate and fourth overall for the year. The carrier as been endeavoring to become more reliable since 2016, according to Skift, and was the most on-time carrier in the US for a brief period in October 2018.
Spirit, however, failed to beat its 2018 percentage of 81.1%, according to data from the Department of Transportation.
4. Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines earned the title of the highest-ranking low-cost carrier on this list with an on-time arrival percentage of 80.2%. The Dallas-based carrier prides itself on quick turnaround times for its flights, often giving as little as 20 minutes from gate arrival to pushback.
The airline is among those affected by the Boeing 737 Max groundings that have also affected American Airlines and United Airlines in the US.
3. Alaska Airlines
Though failing to match its 2018 numbers, Alaska Airlines once again placed third on the list with an on-time arrival rate of 81.3%. The predominantly West Coast airline recently completed a merger with Virgin America that saw it operate new routes and adopt a new subset of Airbus aircraft.
2. Delta Air Lines
The world's second-largest airline ranked again as the US' second-most on-time airline, scoring 83.5% for on-time arrivals. Delta Air Lines increased its on-time arrival rate by .3 percentage points from 2018 and took delivery of two new aircraft types in 2019 including the Airbus A220 and A330-900neo.
Delta is one of the three legacy carriers that do not operate any Boeing 737 Max aircraft, allowing it to remain largely unscathed by the 2019 grounding that affected United and American.
1. Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines once again earned the top spot on the list with the highest on-time arrival percentage. The Honolulu-based carrier beat out Delta by 4.2 percentage points scoring 87.7%.
Though the ranking is the closest to 90% than any other carrier, Hawaiian failed to meet or beat its percentage from 2018 by .1 percentage points. Hawaiian expanded its route network in 2019 with its new longest route between Honolulu and Boston.