A4A Reports Eight Consecutive Months Of Improvements

For the eighth consecutive month, U.S. airlines have improved their on-time performance and delivered the best-ever May baggage-handling results, Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, announced Tuesday.

According to the Department of Transportation (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report, 83.4 percent of flights arrived within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival time in May 2012 – a 6 percentage point improvement from the same month last year. The industry has posted year-over-year gains in on-time arrivals for each of the past eight months. "Our member airlines are systematically improving their operations, focused on what matters most to customers: arriving safely on time and with their bags," said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. "Mild weather has helped as have operations that are focused on getting planes that are often full during the busy summer travel season out on time."

Notably in May, 99.72 percent of all U.S. airline passengers had their bags properly delivered, an all-time record for any May since the government began keeping records in 1987; the previous record was set in May 2010. The May baggage-handling performance also represented the 12th consecutive month of year-over-year improvement.

FMI: www.airlines.org