Air travelers faced delays and cancellations during the holidays, one of the busiest times of the year, as winter weather set in. Still, according to a recent ranking of percentage of on-time departures by an aviation analytics firm, Michigan’s biggest airport ranked No. 2 nationally, and No. 4 globally.

Of Detroit Metro’s nearly 272,000 flights last year, 82.62 percent of them were on time, according to Cirium, a London-based company. That ranked slightly below Salt Lake City International, which had 83.87 percent of its flights come in on time.

Internationally, the rankings were:

1. Haneda in Tokyo, Japan — 90.33 percent
2. Kempegowda International in Bangalore, India — 84.08 percent
3. Salt Lake City International — 83.87 percent
4. Detroit Metro — 82.62 percent
5. Philadelphia International — 82.54 percent
6. Minneapolis-St. Paul International — 81.95 percent
7. Indira Gandhi International in Delhi, India — 81.84 percent
8. Seattle-Tacoma International — 81.04 percent
9. El Dorado International in Bogotá, Colombia — 80.72 percent
10. Charlotte Douglas International — 80.68 percent

    Still, Detroit Metro recommends arriving at least two hours ahead of domestic flights and three hours before international ones.

    Cirium, which published its findings Jan. 3, reported that the past year “saw a challenging operational environment” around the world, particularly in North America and Europe, with delays and other problems. In addition to the weather, the airlines also struggled to anticipate the recovery in demand from the pandemic.