Cirium recently released its report of the most on-time airports and airlines in the world for 2024 (I think it’s a fun read for any avgeek, so here’s the link to the report).
In going through the list of on-time performance (OTP) for airports, Cirium lists four different categories: global airports, large airports, medium airports, and small airports, but Cirium doesn’t explain the difference between “global” and “large” airports.
For instance, Salt Lake City International Airport is considered both a global airport and a large airport, whereas Honolulu International Airport is only considered a large airport (and not a global one), despite having flights to Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the South Pacific. Granted, Salt Lake City International Airport is definitely more of a “global” airport than Honolulu, but it’d be helpful if Cirium explained what made an airport “global” or not (e.g., flights to more than three continents).
I’ve gone through the data and compiled a list of the top 10 most on-time large and medium airports in the U.S. for 2024 (which includes global airports):
| Ranking | Airport | On-Time Departure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portland International Airport (PDX) | 84.86% |
| 2 | San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) | 84.74% |
| 3 | Honolulu International Airport (HNL) | 84.45% |
| 4 | Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) | 83.80% |
| 5 | New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) | 82.39% |
| 6 | Sacramento International Airport (SMF) | 82.77% |
| 7 | Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) | 82.27% |
| 8 | Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) | 82.23% |
| 9 | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) | 82.06% |
| 10 | San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport (OAK) | 81.14% |
Overall, I was surprised that the U.S. did so well — airports in the U.S. made up nine of the top 20 on-time global airports, ten of the top 20 on-time large airports, and eight of the top 20 on-time medium airports.
Bottom line
The U.S. overall ranked highly in the 2024 rankings of on-time airports, with Portland, San Jose, Honolulu, Salt Lake City, and New York LaGuardia Airport taking top honors for large and medium airports in the U.S.
