A challenging September saw many airlines affected by a series of air traffic control (ATC) failures in Europe and the USA, producing a different set of results from those we have seen in the OAG monthly on time performance (OTP) tables to date.
Leading the way is Changan Airlines, with an impressive 96% OTP rate and no cancellations across the 1,903 flights it operated from its Xi'an hub.
Northeast Asia features strongly this month: eight of the top ten airlines with the best on time performance are from the region, and all achieved OTP rates above 90% for the month. Only one low-cost carrier makes the top ten. Air Busan achieved an OTP rate of 92.8% across the 3,521 flights we tracked, with just one cancellation in the month.
Global airlines ranked by on-time performance:
| Rank | Airline | OTP | Cancellations | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Changan Airlines Asia: North East Asia |
96.03% | 0.00% | 1,903 |
| 2 | Royal Jordanian Middle East |
94.23% | 0.10% | 4,092 |
| 3 | Chengdu Airlines Asia: North East Asia |
93.70% | 0.24% | 10,046 |
| 4 | Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines Asia: North East Asia |
93.25% | 0.07% | 2,966 |
| 5 | Qingdao Airline Asia: North East Asia |
93.12% | 0.48% | 3,777 |
| 6 | Shandong Airlines Asia: North East Asia |
92.97% | 0.04% | 16,023 |
| 7 | Air Busan Asia: North East Asia |
92.81% | 0.03% | 3,521 |
| 8 | Widerøe Europe: Western Europe |
92.80% | 2.16% | 11,242 |
| 9 | Hainan Airlines Asia: North East Asia |
92.60% | 0.99% | 20,537 |
| 10 | Hebei Airlines Asia: North East Asia |
92.28% | 0.28% | 3,951 |
Source: OAG On-Time Performance data, September 2026. All airlines with 1,500+ flights included. OTP = percentage of flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule.
Europe: ATC disruption bites
Just one European airline, Wideroe, reported an OTP rate in excess of 90%, although it cancelled 2.1% of planned services. Europe's second-best performer was Austrian Airlines with an OTP rate of 86.8%.
The impact of ATC disruption is clear in the cancellation figures for the region's largest carriers:
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Ryanair: 1,013 cancellations
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easyJet: 1,015 cancellations
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British Airways: 868 cancellations
All three airlines saw on time performance rates fall below their normal levels as they worked to protect as much of their schedule as possible through the disruption.
North America: a challenging month
North American airlines also had a difficult September. Only WestJet broke the 85% OTP mark, while Air Canada achieved an OTP rate of 71.2% and cancelled 1,164 flights.
Among the US majors:
- American Airlines, the largest airline operating in North America in September with nearly 185,500 flights, recorded an OTP rate of 76%
- United Airlines achieved 77.6%
- Delta Air Lines led the three with 81.5%
Cape Air had another difficult month, cancelling one in ten flights and recording an OTP rate of 68.1%.
North American airlines ranked by on-time performance:
| Rank | Airline | OTP | Cancellations | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WestJet | 85.08% | 0.81% | 17,390 |
| 2 | Breeze Airways | 84.81% | 0.00% | 6,823 |
| 3 | Delta Air Lines | 81.46% | 0.92% | 149,522 |
| 4 | Alaska Airlines | 79.76% | 1.60% | 45,948 |
| 5 | Allegiant Air | 78.93% | 0.07% | 7,034 |
| 6 | Flair Airlines | 78.46% | 0.26% | 2,317 |
| 7 | United Airlines | 77.63% | 1.00% | 149,944 |
| 8 | American Airlines | 75.97% | 1.07% | 185,470 |
| 9 | Frontier Airlines | 75.18% | 0.65% | 18,283 |
| 10 | JetBlue Airways | 74.76% | 1.82% | 24,229 |
| 11 | Southwest Airlines | 74.01% | 0.35% | 112,186 |
| 12 | Air Canada | 71.24% | 3.46% | 33,625 |
| 13 | Cape Air | 68.10% | 10.53% | 8,154 |
| 14 | Porter Airlines | 67.06% | 3.17% | 8,033 |
| 15 | Air Transat | 66.75% | 0.09% | 2,138 |
| 16 | Air Inuit | 64.26% | 4.25% | 1,601 |
Source: OAG On-Time Performance data, September 2026. North American airlines with 1,500+ flights included. OTP = percentage of flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule.
Middle East: reliability holds
Middle East carriers delivered a good level of reliability in September, with only one airline, Saudia, cancelling more than 1% of its flights (3.8%).
Royal Jordanian once again recorded the region's highest on time performance rate at 94.2%, followed by Gulf Air at 90.9%. The two airlines cancelled just four and fourteen flights respectively.
