World’s most punctual airports in 2025 revealed by Cirium
Dhaka: Despite mounting challenges such as staffing shortages, unpredictable weather, and airspace restrictions linked to geopolitical tensions, several airports around the world excelled in punctuality in 2025, according to Cirium’s On-Time Performance Review 2025.
With nearly 38.9 million international flights operated last year, Cirium noted that operational disruptions have become “part of the baseline, not just temporary disruptions.” Even so, a select group of airports stood out for their ability to deliver consistent and reliable performance.
Istanbul Airport world’s most reliable
Istanbul Airport (IST) was named Cirium’s Platinum Winner Airport for 2025, recognizing its overall operational excellence rather than punctuality alone. The award considers schedule execution, recovery capability and daily operational control over the full year.
One of the world’s busiest hubs, Istanbul Airport handles more than 84 million passengers annually across 330 destinations. In April 2025, it became Europe’s first airport to implement triple independent runway operations, increasing hourly capacity from 120 to 148 aircraft movements.
Although its on-time performance (OTP) rate of 80.72 percent placed it 19th globally among large airports, Cirium highlighted the airport’s ability to manage scale and complexity without sacrificing consistency.
Top airports by on-time performance
When focusing strictly on OTP, the best-performing large airport in the world was Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport (SCL) in Chile, which achieved 87.04 percent punctuality across more than 153,000 flights.
Chile's Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez Int’l was the most punctual large airport in the world in 2025
The airport’s new Terminal 2, opened in 2022, significantly boosted capacity and efficiency.
Panama City Tocumen Int’l was the best-performing medium airport, with 93.34pc of its flights on time
On the other hand, Panama City Tocumen International Airport (PTY) topped the medium airport category with an impressive 93.34 percent punctuality.
Ecuador’s Guayaquil José Joaquín de Olmedo Int’l was the world’s no 1 small airport, achieving 91.47pc punctuality across 34,068 flights serving 19 routes
Lastly, Guayaquil José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport (GYE) in Ecuador led the small airport category at 91.47 percent.
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