Global disruption to air travel rose in September with cancellations increasing by 11 per cent compared with the previous month, according to the latest punctuality report from aviation data firm Cirium.
The report attributed the surge in cancellations last month to “operational setbacks in key international markets”, including Europe where cancellations rose by 50 per cent from 4,680 flights in August to 7,018 departures in September.
Flights in Europe were affected last month by a series of strikes impacting KLM’s services, as well as disruption caused by a cyber attack on the provider of check-in and boarding systems. Icelandic budget carrier PLAY also ceased operations in late September.
But it was not a uniform picture across the world with Cirium noting a “dramatic split” between different regions. For example, cancellations in North America fell by 56 per cent from 12,223 flights in August to 5,364 services in September.
The report also revealed that Icelandair was the European carrier with the best on-time performance (OTP) last month with 86.4 per cent flights arriving on time – putting it just ahead of SAS (84.1 per cent), Iberia (83.4 per cent) and Finnair (81.9 per cent).
A flight is considered on time if the aircraft arrives at the gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time.
Aeromexico had the highest OTP among global carriers in September with 91.80 per cent of flights arriving on time, which put it ahead of Brazilian carrier Azul (89.5 per cent), Delta Air Lines (87.5 per cent) and Saudia (87.2 per cent). Aeromexico was also the most punctual airline in the world during 2024.