Posts Better Month-Over-Month, Year-To-Year Numbers

Flights operated by the nation’s largest airlines arrived on time at a higher rate this past August than in both the previous month and August 2007, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released Thursday by the US Department of Transportation (DOT). 

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 78.4 percent in August, higher than both August 2007’s 71.7 percent and July 2008’s 75.7 percent. 

The monthly report also includes data on flight cancellations and the causes of flight delays, as well as information on reports of mishandled baggage filed with the carriers and consumer service, disability and discrimination complaints received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division. This report also includes reports of incidents involving pets traveling by air, as required to be filed by US carriers.

The consumer report includes BTS data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the reporting carriers. In August, the carriers canceled 1.6 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, lower than both the 1.9 percent cancellation rate of August 2007 and the 1.7 percent rate posted in July 2008. 

Overall, Hawaiian Airlines continued its streak of posting the best on-time numbers, with 92.3 percent of its flights arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled times. Regional carrier Pinnacle was a close second at 89.6 percent, with SkyWest in third place at 85.7 percent.

Chalking up the worst on-time performances were JetBlue, with 64.7 percent on-time arrivals; and Comair, with 67.4 percent of its flights arriving on-time. American Airlines continued its streak of appearances in the bottom three, with a 70.6 percent on-time arrival rate in August.

Disturbingly, Comair posted four of the five worst-performing flights. Both its Flight 5610 from BWI to JFK, and Flight 5109 from CLE to JFK, were late 100 percent at the time. The Delta subsidiary also cancelled the highest percentage of its flights, nearly five percent of its total schedule.

Earning kudos for the lowest number of cancelled flights were Frontier, Northwest, and Southwest... with each posting cancellations of 0.6 percent or less of their total schedules.

FMI: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov