2023 was an interesting year for airlines.
We saw lots of delays and TONS of cancellations in the air travel world, especially closer to the end of the year. It can be very annoying to have your travel plans foiled by a change in your flight — nothing is more frustrating than a last-minute delay or cancellation! When you book your flight to Disney World, you may have a few airlines you purposely avoid. However, based on some new statistics that were just announced, we have a few that we would recommend trying!
Cirium just released their “On-Time Performance Review 2023” for airlines and airports. The report is full of useful data such as which airports around the globe saw the highest number of on-time flights (spoiler, Orlando International didn’t make the list).
However, since we are mostly concerned with flying into Orlando International Airport, we were curious to find out which airlines were the best to fly on in 2023 in terms of on-time flights.
According to the report, the best airline to travel with, if you don’t want to be canceled on nearly as often, is… Delta Airlines! Delta topped all the other airlines in North America with on-time arrivals 84.72% of the time. They had 99.98% of their flights tracked (so we know the on-time arrival statistic is pretty solid) and a completion factor of 98.82%. They had a total of 1,635,486 flights in 2023. Those are pretty excellent stats!
But we know everyone has their airline preferences, so here are the other top 9 airlines behind Delta from 2023 with the highest percentages of on-time arrivals!
- Alaska Airlines — 82.25%
- American Airlines — 80.61%
- United Airlines — 80.04%
- Southwest Airlines — 76.26%
- Spirit Airlines — 71.16%
- WestJet — 69.29%
- Frontier Airlines — 68.68%
- JetBlue Airways — 69.33%
- Air Canada — 63.17%
The top ten airlines had an average of 74.45% of on-time arrivals, 98.49% of total flights tracked, and 8,412,060 total flights! We don’t know about you, but we like those odds. If you’re heading to Disney World in 2024, you might want to consider one of these top 10 airlines.
Depending on where you’re traveling from, here’s a look at the top airports in the U.S. and around the world! The top airport with the best on-time departure percentage (84.44%) is… the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport! The next top U.S. airport is Salt Lake City International with an 83.99% on-time departure rate and then Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (83.09%).
You can see the full list here:
There was a whole lot of flying going on in 2023! Perhaps it was a big part of the revenge travel we had been seeing since Covid-19. It will be interesting to see how all these numbers fare at the end of 2024!
Until then, check out these air travel posts to help you prepare for your upcoming Disney World trip!
- The CHEAPEST Way to Get To Disney World From the Orlando Airport
- How Early Should You REALLY Get To Orlando Airport (MCO)?
- How To Make Your Next Orlando Airport Experience LESS Stressful
- Our Best Tips For Flying Through the Orlando International Airport
- Air Travel Tips That’ll Change Your Life
- The Airlines to AVOID If You Don’t Want to Get Bumped from Your Flight
For more Disney travel news, keep following DFB!
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Which airlines do you prefer flying? Let us know in the comments!
I highly recommend flying Delta out of Detroit Metro. It is my favorite airport. It has very wide concourses in comparison to most airports, and a multi-story ceiling which makes it feel very open and airy. There are a lot of very good restaurant choices. It’s very clean, has numerous restrooms, and it’s very easy to navigate with moving walkways and an overhead tram that takes you from one end of the main concourse to the other.