Summary The aviation analytics company Cirium has released its July on-time performance (OTP) report. The month was infamous for the global IT outage, which affected airlines across the globe. However, certain regions, including North America and Europe, had far more cancelations than the Middle East & Africa, for example.
The latest on-time performance (OTP) report from the aviation analytics company Cirium has shown how the global IT outage affected operations in July. North America and Europe affected the most Cirium outlined five regions where it tracked airlines’ OTP, namely the Middle East & Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America , and Europe. Despite the global IT outage , which happened on July 19, when CrowdStrike shipped a faulty update to Microsoft Windows computers, resulting in the infamous blue screen of death (BSOD), some regions actually had fewer canceled flights during the month.
Examples include the Middle East & Africa and Latin America, while North America has been disproportionately affected by the issue, the data showed. Region Total cancelations in June 2024 Total cancelations in July 2024 Change Middle East & Africa 2,000 1,849 -7.5% Asia-Pacific 26,951 26,990 0.
14% Latin America 4,235 3,222 -23.9% North America 11,806 23,393 98.1% Europe 8,145 10,976 34.
7% Cirium pointed out that over 5,000 flights were canceled globally between July 19 and July 21. Airlines that heavily relied on Microsoft’s software “bore the brunt of the chaos,” the company added. The law firm's investigation follows several lawsuits and legal actions that began after the week-long operational meltdown at Delta Air Lines.
SAUDIA retaining its leading spot Globally, SAUDIA remained the global OTP leader, with a rating of 88.15%, a slight decline from its 88.22% rating in June.
Cirium ranks airlines and their OTP using on-time arrivals, namely flights that arrive within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time. The second, third, and fourth best-performing airlines were Azul, LATAM Airlines, avianca, and Aeromexico, respectively. While the three Latin American carriers had an OTP of over 84%, Aeromexico’s rating was a considerable drop-off, with the Mexican airline ending July with an OTP of 81.
51%. To note, Cirium listed Aeromexico as part of the Latin American region. Airline On-time arrival % in June On-time arrival % in July Change SAUDIA 88.
22% 88.15% -0.07% Azul 84.
83% 85.20% 0.43% LATAM Airlines 85.
83% 84.65% -1.3% avianca 79.
97% 84.11% 5.1% Aeromexico 86.
18% 81.51% -5.4% The airline has now achieved six consecutive months as the most punctual US carrier.
Delta’s week-long meltdown The July report also outlined how US-based carriers were affected by the outage, with the top five performing airlines in the North America region all performing significantly worse than in June. Airline On-time arrival % in June On-time arrival % in July Change Alaska Airlines 77.79% 77.
51% -0.3% United Airlines 77.44% 73.
12% -5.5% Delta Air Lines 80.05% 72.
36% -9.6% JetBlue 71.83% 69.
57% -3.1% Southwest Airlines 72.48% 69.
54% -4% However, the data showed that airlines in the region were affected differently, as airlines had managed to rebuild their operations relatively quickly. 68.75% of flights in North America arrived on time, according to the report.
Cirium’s report fully displayed the impact that the IT outage had on Delta Air Lines’ operation. It also detailed that the carrier completed 94.72% of its flights, with only WestJet (94.
02%) performing worse among the top ten airlines in North America. WestJet's maintenance technicians' strike authorization vote is valid until July 9, 2024..
