The world’s most punctual airlines and airports over 2025 have been revealed in a new report from aviation analysts Cirium. The 17th edition of the On-Time Performance (OTP) Review marks particular successes for the Middle East and Latin America.
Airlines
Mexican flag carrier, Aeroméxico, delivered 90.02% punctuality across 188,859 flights, securing the number one spot as the world’s most punctual airline for a second year.
Saudia, the flagship carrier of Saudi Arabia, came in second worldwide, managing 86.53% OTP, while SAS achieved third place with more than 86%.
The UK’s Virgin Atlantic won Cirium’s new ‘Most Improved’ award, achieving the biggest year-on-year gain in operational performance. It went from 74.02% OTP in 2024 to 83.45% in 2025—a 9.44 percentage point increase that Cirium said was down to “genuine operational excellence, rather than recovery from poor prior performance.”
Philippine Airlines, the number one on-time airline in the Asia Pacific region, with 83.12% punctuality, was also singled out for praise for managing that score despite the congestion issues at its base in Manila, Ninoy Aquino International.
And the Platinum honour went to Qatar Airways, which also won Skytrax’s best airline for 2025. Qatar handled 198,303 flights and averaged 84.42% OTP. Cirium noted Qatar’s excellent use of connectivity flows and operational data analysis to “retime and reroute” as needed during pinch points, whether the problems were down to aircraft shortages, geopolitics, or meteorological conditions.
| Ranking | Airline | On-Time Arrivals | Total Flights |
| 1 | (AM) Aeromexico | 90.02% | 188,859 |
| 2 | (SV) Saudia | 86.53% | 202,864 |
| 3 | (SK) SAS | 86.09% | 249,674 |
| 4 | (AD) Azul | 85.18% | 304,625 |
| 5 | (QR) Qatar Airways | 84.42% | 198,303 |
| 6 | (IB) Iberia | 83.52% | 188,447 |
| 7 | (LA) LATAM Airlines | 82.40% | 580,707 |
| 8 | (AV) Avianca | 81.73% | 266,921 |
| 9 | (TK) Turkish Airlines | 81.41% | 421,087 |
| 10 | (DL) Delta Air Lines | 80.90% | 1,800,086 |
Airports
The world’s best OTP at a small airport (5 and 15 million seats) was at Ecuador’s Guayaquil José Joaquín de Olmedo International, which scored 91.47% punctuality for the 34,068 flights it handled over 19 routes.
Panama City Tocumen International took first place for best OTP at a medium-sized airport (15 to 20 million), managing 93.34% punctuality across 148,065 flights and 96 routes.
For OTP in a “large” airport (25 to 50 million seats annually) bringing the most flights in within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time, was Chile’s Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez International, three years after doubling its capacity by opening a second terminal. It scored 87.04% punctuality over 153,326 flights and 68 routes.
Meanwhile, mega-hub Istanbul Airport takes Platinum in the ranking for performance and reliability, handling 84 million passengers, connecting to 330 destinations, and successfully operating with three independent runways from April 2025, becoming the first airport in Europe to do so.
A global logistics nightmare for both commercial passenger flights and cargo could ensue if disruptions at Istanbul got out of hand, due to the airport’s size and strategic location between Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. But Cirium praised Istanbul as an example of the way “scale and complexity can coexist with consistency and control.” Its on-time measure of 80.72% of flights arriving within 15 minutes of their scheduled time puts it at 19th in the ranking, but Cirium made it Platinum Winner thanks to its overall performance.
Commenting on the review, Jeremy Bowen, Cirium CEO, said: “Maintaining consistent on-time performance requires sophisticated network planning, operational coordination, and the ability to recover quickly when irregularities occur. These results reflect the operational discipline that defines aviation’s top performers.”
