On Valentine’s Day, even the most elegant New York City hotel dining rooms raise the bar in terms of their culinary offerings.
02.01.2024 - 23:09 / cntraveler.com
If there was one thing we could choose to leave behind in 2023, it would be flight delays. And while there's no way to ever guarantee an on-time take off, choosing airlines with a punctual track record can help manifest smooth travels in your future. But don't just cross your fingers and hope for the best—use data to make those New Year's travel resolutions come true.
On Tuesday, aviation analytics firm Cirium released its annual on-time performance report ranking the most punctual airlines and airports of 2023. The list, derived from over 600 real-time flight information sources, features the expected names, to be sure (Delta received Cirium's Platinum Award for global operational excellence for the third year in a row), but reveals some wild card winners as well.
Drum roll, please: Avianca Airlines, a low-cost carrier based in Colombia, was ranked the most punctual global airline of 2023 with 85.73% of its flights arriving within 15 minutes of its scheduled gate arrival. That's a massive improvement from last year, when Avianca ranked sixth for on-time arrivals in the same Cirium report.
As one of Latin America's largest airlines, Avianca offers direct flights from US cities including New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago to destinations like Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
Avianca, a low-cost carrier based in Colombia, offers direct flights between the US and Latin America.
Avianca filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after suspending operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the airline to simplify its business model and introduce more competitive fares. Achieving the top on-time ranking is an "amazing feat for this resurgent airline,” Jeremy Bowen, CEO of Cirium, said in a news release accompanying the report.
Brazilian airline Azul was the second-best global airline for on-time performance, according to Cirium's ranking, with 85.51% of its flights arriving on time. Qatar Airways came in third with 85.11% on-time arrivals, and Delta Airlines (which flew substantially more flights than any other airline in the category) was ranked fourth with 84.72% on-time arrivals. Iberia, the flag carrier of Spain, was the fifth most punctual global airline.
Considering the travel chaos that's plagued airlines and passengers since the pandemic, the 2023 winners “steered through the year’s operational hurdles with exceptional performance,” Bowen said in the release. “Their relentless pursuit of efficiency and punctuality is commendable as we venture into 2024, a year brimming with promise for the aviation sector.”
In addition to the leading global airlines listed above, Cirium ranked the punctuality of local carriers by geographic region, from Europe to the Asia-Pacific.
1. Delta Air Lines:
On Valentine’s Day, even the most elegant New York City hotel dining rooms raise the bar in terms of their culinary offerings.
There’s no better way to get to know a city than by ambling down winding roads and cobblestone streets, popping into restaurants and art galleries along the way. Unfortunately, in the many car-centric metropolitans of the US, a leisurely stroll from your hotel lobby might just lead you to a parking lot instead.
For frequent flyers the varying amount of legroom on airplanes can be difficult to navigate. A recent study analyzed the amount of available legroom on varying airlines’ most popular routes, and ranked them in order of most legroom to least legroom. The clear winner was JetBlue while Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines tied in 7th place, according to the study from Upgraded Points. The full ranking for the airline seat legroom is:
The passport you hold is a powerful tool when it comes to effortlessly visiting countries around the world.And some passports provide far more access than others, according to the Henley Passport Index.The just-released 2024 index shows that for the first time in 19 years of producing the ranking, six countries are tied for the top spot of having the most powerful passports.The countries leading the ranking are France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain—meaning citizens from all of these countries are able to visit 194 destinations around the world either visa-free or by obtaining a visa-on-arrival.The Henley Passport Index is the only ranking of its kind and is developed based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index compares 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.While Japan and Singapore have made it into the number one slot for the past five years running, according to CNN, the European countries that are now also ranked number one on the list is a new development.
Last week Lufthansa made history. Weeks ahead of its major European rivals, the airline resumed scheduled services to Israel. As of last Monday, the German carrier is offering four weekly flights between Frankfurt and Tel Aviv and three from Munich. The routes mark the first time the company has operated to the country since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in early October.
It’s never a pleasant experience to fly through turbulence on an airplane. and a new list is revealing which routes are more likely to experience bumps than others. Passengers heading from Nashville to Raleigh/Durham are most likely to experience the bumpiest rides based on a report that analyzed the turbulence levels of 150,000 airline routes from travel tool Turbli. The report calculates the turbulence levels by assigning each route an «eddy dissipation rate,» which is scientific for the level of turbulence intensity.
Growing up in the Midwest, I often saw photos on calendars or computer-screen wallpapers that seemed like they couldn't be real.
Six countries now have the world's most powerful passport, according to the 2024 Henley Passport Index — but the US isn't one of them.
There's a new six-way tie for first place in an annual global travel ranking.France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain, have all tied as having the top passport in the world, measured by providing visa-free access to 194 countries with their respective passports, according to the newest Henley Passport Index. The annual report measures the flexibility of visa-free travel and has become a popular list among global travelers. For comparison, in 2023, only Japan was crowned with the top spot when it provided access to 193 countries.
There are many ways to visit Cuba. Many price points, too. While the country’s unique circumstances may not make the island the best place in the world for shoestring backpackers, you can certainly save money if you understand a bit of the local mecánica (Cuban way of doing things).
Four European countries now have the world’s most powerful passports.
The world's most powerful passports for 2024 have been revealed — with the biggest shake-up in rankings we've seen in several years, including a never-before-seen six nations in first place.