Despite severe weather events in many regions, including floods in Spain, global flight cancellations were down by 8% in October, with 43,484 flights canceled compared with 47,324 in September, according to a report from Cirium.

While the Asia-Pacific region saw a 24% decrease in flight cancellations in October (21,349) compared with 28,027 in September, this was still the highest contribution to the overall global cancellations, at a rate of 49%. A jet fuel shortage in Japan, which began early this year, worsened over the summer months and has impacted the operations of major carriers like JAL and ANA.

Aeromexico maintained its position as the global on-time performance (OTP) leader, with an OTP of 91.88%, a slight improvement from the previous month’s result of 91.13%. Delta Air Lines concluded the month as the runner-up in the global airlines category, with an OTP of 90.53%, an improvement of nearly 3 points from 87.81% in September. They were followed by Saudia in third place (89.69%), United Airlines in fourth (88.13%) and Hainan Airlines in fifth (87.14%).

North America witnessed a 35% increase in flight cancellations last month due to Hurricane Milton, with 8,113 flights canceled, compared with 6,001 in September. However, this accounted for only 19% of the total global cancellations in October. Image: Shutterstock