Most Reliable Airlines in 2021 – The Ultimate Ranking!
Since we’ve received so much positive feedback on our latest ranking about the world’s most punctual and largest airlines, we wanted to add another perspective today. Therefore, we’ve analyzed the reliability of the world’s airports. But let’s quickly provide you with some facts before we dive into the details of the ranking:
How do you define Reliability?
In this ranking, reliability refers to the number of canceled flights in relation to overall operated flights. Therefore, we provide you with the cancelation rate for each airport that is contained in the ranking.
Which timeframe did you analyze?
For this report, we’ve analyzed data from July 2021.
How do you cluster the airports?
In order not to compare apple with pears, we clustered the ranking according to the flight volume as followed:
- Mega Airports: Airports that handled more than 10,000 flights in July 2021
- Large Airports: Airports that handled more than 5,000 but less than 10,000 flights in July 2021
- Medium Airports: Airports that handled more than 1,000 but less than 5,000 flights in July 2021
- Small Airports: Airports that handled less than 1,000 flights in July 2021
In case you want to jump to an airport category directly, here are the links:
Contents
Most Reliable Mega Airports
Most Reliable Large Airports
Most Reliable Medium Airports
Most Reliable Small Airports
Most Reliable Airports — Mega Airports
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport seems to be the quality leader these days. After winning the award of the most punctual airport in 2021, SVO also wins the trophy of the world’s most reliable airport. Out of more than 11,000 flights, Moscow Sheremetyevo saw a meager cancellation rate of 0.2% Besides, Moscow, we have many U.S. airports in the list of the top 10 most reliable airports. Besides Minneapolis, Atlanta, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Detroit made it into the top 10. With Frankfurt and Amsterdam, Europe adds two airports to the list (besides Moscow).
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Cancellation % | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SVO | Moscow Sheremetyevo | 0.2% | 11,254 |
| 2 | MSP | Minneapolis/St. Paul | 0.3% | 13,034 |
| 3 | ATL | Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson | 0.4% | 30,753 |
| 4 | SEA | Seattle-Tacoma | 0.4% | 17,290 |
| 5 | AMS | Amsterdam | 0.5% | 13,399 |
| 6 | SLC | Salt Lake City | 0.5% | 11,673 |
| 7 | MEX | Mexico City | 0.6% | 13,773 |
| 8 | FRA | Frankfurt | 0.6% | 11,968 |
| 9 | LAX | Los Angeles | 0.7% | 20,981 |
| 10 | DTW | Detroit | 0.7% | 12,655 |
Most Reliable Airports — Large Airports
With Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen we have an airport without any cancellations in July – amazing performance. Moreover, Moscow’s airports continue to deliver fantastic results. Besides Sheremetyevo, Moscow Domodedovo and Moscow Vnukovo made it to the top 10. In general, Europe plays a strong role when looking at large airports. Eight out of ten airports are located in Europe.
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Cancellation | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SAW | Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen | 0.0% | 9,756 |
| 2 | ATH | Athens | 0.1% | 8,672 |
| 3 | DEM | Moscow Domodedovo | 0.1% | 8,089 |
| 4 | LED | St. Petersburg | 0.2% | 6,920 |
| 5 | DOH | Doha | 0.2% | 6,454 |
| 6 | VKO | Moscow Vnukovo | 0.2% | 6,109 |
| 7 | AYT | Antalya | 0.2% | 5,367 |
| 8 | HNL | Honolulu | 0.3% | 5,827 |
| 9 | VIE | Vienna | 0.4% | 6,582 |
| 10 | PMI | Palma de Mallorca | 0.5% | 9,154 |
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Most Reliable Airports — Medium Airports
Ok, now it’s getting scary. First, medium airports delivered an outstanding performance. Nine out of ten operated all flights as planned – not a single cancellation. Second, Russia seems to be the perfect country for reliable travel. Another six of the world’s most reliable medium airports are located in Russia.
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Cancellation | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OVB | Novosibirsk | 0.0% | 2,886 |
| 2 | KRR | Krasnodar | 0.0% | 2,051 |
| 3 | ABV | Abuja | 0.0% | 1,940 |
| 4 | UFA | Ufa | 0.0% | 1,371 |
| 5 | KJA | Krasnoyarsk | 0.0% | 1,248 |
| 6 | TJM | Tyumen | 0.0% | 1,133 |
| 7 | BFS | Belfast | 0.0% | 1,091 |
| 8 | AJA | Ajaccio | 0.0% | 1,069 |
| 9 | KUF | Samara | 0.0% | 1,055 |
| 10 | SIP | Simferopol | 0.1% | 3,457 |
Most Reliable Airports — Small Airports
Finally, another Russian airport also wins the trophy of the world’s most reliable small airline: Surgut (SGC). Besides that, we have a mixed field of airports from Europe, America.
| Rank | IATA | Airport | Cancellation | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SGC | Surgut | 0.0% | 934 |
| 2 | BIA | Bastia | 0.0% | 931 |
| 3 | KMJ | Kumamoto | 0.1% | 896 |
| 4 | IKT | Irkutsk | 0.2% | 993 |
| 5 | KGS | Kos | 0.2% | 979 |
| 6 | UIO | Quito | 0.3% | 897 |
| 7 | DBV | Dubrovnik | 0.3% | 947 |
| 8 | BVA | Paris Beauvais | 0.4% | 996 |
| 9 | STX | St. Croix | 0.5% | 933 |
| 10 | AUA | Aruba | 0.5% | 925 |
Used Data
The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources.
What Do You Think?
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