ANA flies high in on-time global airline report; industry faces staffing shortage

In an industry that is still recovering from the pandemic and dealing with staffing challenges, the players continue to strive for high performance.

All Nippon Airways was the most on-time global airline in the network category, according to Cirium, a global provider of aviation analytics. All Nippon Airways demonstrated its experience winning the top Global Network Airline award for with an "on time performance" of 89.79% on 278,600 for annual flights, according to the report.

It was followed by Japan Airlines, which showed 88.37% on 299,606 for annual flights. United Airlines came in 7th place with 81.22% on 1,457,657 for annual flights.

In the Asia Pacific Airlines Report, Network Winners, All Nippon Airways came out on top with 89.79% on-time arrivals for 278,600 flights. It was followed by JAL's 89.39% for 278,,931. Philippine Airlines came in at 4th with 76.42% on-time arrivals for 76,308 flights.

Cirium officials did note that "globally on-time performance numbers were down approximately 2 percentage points overall throughout 2022."

"One of the most significant impacts on decreased on-time performance has been global staffing shortages throughout every stakeholder in aviation – airlines, airports, air traffic management and others," the report stated.

"This has resulted in flight delays, cancellations, long lines at airports and air traffic congestion." That being said, "in just one year, there were 4 million mainline operations and 6 million network operations – a promising sign that air travel demand is resurging," Cirium officials reported.

Nevertheless, staffing shortages are expected to challenge the global air travel industry and could have long-term impacts affecting on-time performance and reliability throughout 2023 and beyond, the report states.

"The industry must be proactive in addressing these issues by recruiting and hiring more personnel or outsourcing tasks so they can continue providing quality service without sacrificing safety or reliability," the report states. "Doing so will help ensure customer loyalty and keep their business running smoothly for years to come." mbj