by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:46 AM ET, Tue February 20, 2018
Experiencing flight delays is a frustrating part of traveling, but can it be avoided?
It depends on who you fly with.
As part of travel intelligence firm OAG's on-time performance report, analysts broke down around 57 million flight records from 2017 to determine the most punctual carriers using on-time performance (OTP).
To be considered on-time, a flight must arrive or depart within 14 minutes and 59 seconds of their scheduled times.
Topping the list of mainline airlines at 90.01 percent of OTP flights was Latvian carrier airBaltic, followed by Hong Kong Airlines at 88.83 percent and Hawaiian Airlines at 87.24 percent.
OAG also broke down the OTP flights for mega airlines, which are defined as carriers with 30 million-plus seats. In this category, Japan Airlines finished at 85.27 percent last year, followed by All Nippon Airways at 83.81 percent and Delta Air Lines at 82.76 percent.
The United States had four carriers in the top ten for mega airlines, with Delta finishing third, United Airlines finishing seventh, American Airlines finishing ninth and Southwest Airlines finishing 10th.
In a U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics study from 2017, the results found that Hawaiian, Alaska Airlines, and Delta were the top three carriers in terms of on-time arrival rate in America.
OAG's top 10 mega airlines based on OTP are:
-Japan Airlines (85.27 percent)
-All Nippon Airways (83.81 percent)
-Delta Air Lines (82.76 percent)
-IndiGo (81.22 percent)
-Alaska Airlines (81.06 percent)
-SAS (80.90 percent)
-United Airlines (79.86 percent)
-LATAM Airlines Group (79.39 percent)
-American Airlines (78.97 percent)
-Southwest (78.55 percent)
The top 10 mainline airlines based on OTP are:
-airBaltic (90.01 percent)
-Hong Kong Airlines (88.83 percent)
-Hawaiian Airlines (87.24 percent)
-Copa Airlines (86.39 percent)
-Qantas Airways (86.18 percent)
-Japan Airlines(85.27 percent)
-Aer Lingus (84.46 percent)
-Singapore Airlines (84.07 percent)
-All Nippon Airways (83.81 percent)
-Qatar Airways (82.95 percent)
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