Significantly More Than Routes Flying Other Equipment

United flights scheduled on its new Dreamliners are cancelled four times as often as flights using other equipment, according to data reported by FlightAware.com.

Bloomberg News reports that 3.8 percent of the flights to be operated on the carrier's six Dreamliners were cancelled between May 20 and June 26. When the 787 was factored out, United cancelled only about one percent of its flights. United is the only U.S. airline to operate Boeing's new airliner.

The data was compiled without listing causes for the cancellations. United spokeswoman Mary Ryan told Bloomberg that the Dreamliner is "going through a fine-tuning process," adding that the Boeing 777 experienced similar issues when it was first introduced in 1995. She said that the airline anticipates that the Dreamliner will "evolve" into a "highly reliable airplane."

The FlightAware data also indicated that flights on Dreamliners were more likely to arrive late. About 30 percent of 787 flights arrived late by an average of 72 minutes, compared to a 24 percent late arrival rate by other airplanes in United's fleet averaging 63 minutes.

(United Dreamliner image provided by Boeing.)

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.united.com