China Southern Airlines aircraft. Photo: NGCHIYUI / Shutterstock OAG's January 2026 on-time performance (OTP) rankings show that China Southern Airlines is the world's most punctual airline, with a score of 89.4%, followed by Hainan Airlines at 87.92%.
Hanan Airlines.Photo: Shutterstock
Qantas Airways in the Southwest Pacific ranked third at 83.32%, though its cancellation rate was higher at 2.18%.
In Latin America, Azul Airlines achieved an 82.61% OTP on 24,476 flights, with China Eastern Airlines at 81.62% for 70,804 flights rounding out the top five. Latam Airlines Group maintained an 80.7% OTP across 53,181 flights.
North American carriers showed mixed results. Southwest Airlines led the region with a 79.75% OTP on 106,263 flights, followed closely by Alaska Airlines at 79.31% and Avianca at 79.12%. All Nippon Airways reached 79% OTP in Northeast Asia, while British Airways held 77.95% in Western Europe. United Airlines managed 77.74% on 139,607 flights, slightly ahead of Ryanair at 77.72%.
Shenzhen Airlines and Japan Airlines posted OTPs of 77.09% and 76.38%, respectively, while Delta Air Lines hovered at 75.83%. easyJet followed at 74.28%. American Airlines, with a high flight volume of 183,273, recorded 71.57% OTP, and Air India achieved 67.71% with minimal cancellations. IndiGo and JetBlue fell below 68%, at 67.14% and 66.3% respectively, with JetBlue experiencing over 6% of flights canceled.
In Europe, Air France achieved 63.37%, and KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines struggled at 57.76% OTP with a notably high cancellation rate of 13.89%. Air Canada ranked last among the listed major airlines, completing only 51.81% of its 31,558 flights on time, with 9.32% canceled.
Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK