On-Time Figures Higher Than In November 2007, But Lower Than
Preceding Month
The nation's largest airlines had a
higher rate of on-time flights this past November than in the same
month last year, although the rate of delays was higher than in
October 2008, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released
Wednesday by the US Department of Transportation (DOT).
According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance
recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 83.3 percent in
November, an improvement over November 2007's 80.0 percent... but
below October 2008's 86.0 percent.
In November, the carriers canceled 0.8 percent of their
scheduled domestic flights, lower than the 1.0 percent cancellation
rate of November 2007 but higher than the 0.6 percent rate posted
in October 2008.
For the second month, BTS also logged reported incidents of
passenger strandings. In November, the carriers filing on-time
performance data reported that .00002 percent of their scheduled
flights had tarmac delays of three hours or more, down from .0001
percent in October, the first month carriers reported this
data.
That information should probably be taken with a grain of salt,
however, for at least two reasons. One, because it's up to the
airlines themselves to report those tarmac strandings; and second,
because the figures BTS released in October
have already been shown to be erroneous. BTS
says it "is reviewing other parts of the tarmac data reported by
carriers for October and the following months. Data will be
released when the review is completed."
Of those delays and late flights the airlines admitted to, 42
percent were caused by weather, according to BTS.
Hawaiian Airlines recorded the best on-time performance in
November 2008, at 89.6 percent. Southwest and Northwest placed
second and third, respectively, in this regard. Over on the low
end, Atlantic Southeast Airlines posted the worst on-time rate in
November, with 75.3 percent of its flights arriving on-time, with
Comair and Delta bringing up the rear.
ExpressJet's Flight 2396 from Newark, NJ to Detroit took the
dubious honor of being the most frequently delayed flight, showing
late 83.33 percent of the time. Comair, SkyWest, Southwest and Mesa
also posted flights that were late over 80 percent of the time.
Another ExpressJet plane -- Flight 2534 from Nashville, TN to
Newark, NJ -- spent 269 minutes stranded on the ramp November 30.
BTS says this was the only flight delayed on the tarmac more than
four hours in November.
Regional operators Mesa, Pinnacle and Comair canceled the
highest percentages of their scheduled flights in November, while
Continental, Northwest and Frontier reported the fewest.