Hawaiian Airlines has a well-deserved reputation as the most on-time airline in the United States, and the data proved it to be right once again.
Hawaiian was named the most punctual airline in the country for the 18th consecutive year, with an on-time rate of 90.1 percent for 2021, according to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) figures.
The airline’s on-time rate was almost 10 percentage points higher than the average for the nation’s 16 largest carriers, which came in at a rather dismal 81.1 percent. Only four airlines were above that figure.
“I am immensely grateful for all our teams who worked so hard to keep our guests at the forefront of everything they do,” Peter Ingram, president and CEO at Hawaiian Airlines, said in a statement.
“They overcame the continued operational challenges of the pandemic to once again deliver on our industry leading punctuality as we grew our U.S. domestic network, restored inter-island flights and resumed international services, supported essential cargo transportation and charter flights, and served our local community with aloha.”
Most Punctual Airlines
The top five airlines in the annual survey were:
- Hawaiian (90.1 percent)
- Delta (88.2 percent)
- Alaska (83.2 percent)
- American (81.6 percent)
- United (79.8 percent)
The DOT considers a flight on time if it leaves or arrives no more than 15 minutes later than its scheduled time.
Hawaiian flew considerably less than the other airlines in the survey, but it still had more than 60,000 flights during 2021. American, on the other end, had just under 1.7 million flights.
“Our recovery is a testament to (our team’s) tireless efforts, and I’m truly honored to be a part of this airline,” Ingram said.
Flight Cancelations
The DOT report also highlighted the number of flights that were canceled during the year, and Hawaiian also topped that list with a cancelation rate of just 0.44 percent.
Hawaiian canceled 264 of its scheduled 60,654 flights for the year. Part of the reason their record is so strong is winter weather is never a factor for their flights on the Hawaii end.
Others rounding out the top five in cancelations were Delta (0.58 percent), Frontier (1.41 percent), JetBlue (1.63 percent), and Alaska (1.67 percent).
Hawaiian maintained its on-time status despite going through a growth spurt in 2021. The airline added non-stop service from Honolulu to Austin, Texas; Orlando, Florida; and Ontario, California; as well as services from Maui to Phoenix and Long Beach, California.
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