Airlines On-Time Performance
in March Better Than February But Slips From Previous Year
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Contact |
DOT 46-07
Bill Mosley
202-366-4570 |
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Monday, May 7, 2007 - The nation's largest
airlines recorded a rate of on-time flights this past March that was higher
than in February but down from the rate posted in March 2006, according to the
Air Travel Consumer Report released today by the U.S. 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 20 carriers reporting on-time
performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 73.3 percent in March, down
from March 2006's 76.1 but an improvement over February 2007's 67.3 percent.
The monthly report also includes
data on flight cancellations and causes of flight delays, as well as information
on reports of mishandled baggage filed with the carriers, airline bumping, and consumer
service, disability and discrimination complaints received by DOT's Aviation
Consumer Protection Division. This
report also includes reports required to be filed by U.S. carriers of incidents involving pets traveling by air.
Cancellations
The consumer report includes BTS
data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the reporting carriers. In March, the carriers canceled 2.6 percent
of their scheduled domestic flights, up from the 1.2 percent cancellation rate
of March 2006 but down from February 2007's 4.5 percent.
Causes of Flight Delays
The carriers filing on-time
performance data reported that 7.62 percent of their March flights were delayed
by aviation system delays, compared to 8.83 percent in February 2007; 8.09
percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 9.58 percent in February; 7.32
percent by factors within the airline's control, such as maintenance or crew
problems, compared to 8.14 percent in February; 0.80 percent by extreme
weather, compared to 1.38 in February; and 0.06 percent for security reasons, compared
to 0.07 percent in February. Weather is
a factor in both the extreme-weather category and the aviation-system category.
This includes delays due to the re-routing of flights by DOT's Federal Aviation
Administration in consultation with the carriers involved. Weather is also a factor in delays attributed
to late-arriving aircraft, although airlines do not report specific causes in
that category.
Data
collected by BTS also shows the percentage of late flights delayed by weather,
including those reported in either the category of extreme weather or included
in National Aviation System delays. In March, 41.94 percent of late flights
were delayed by weather, down 9.51 percent from March 2006, when 46.35 percent
of late flights were delayed by weather, and up 0.62 percent from February when
41.68 percent of late flights were delayed by weather.
Detailed information
on flight delays and their causes is available on the BTS site on the World
Wide Web at http://www.bts.gov.
Mishandled Baggage
The U.S. carriers
reporting flight delay and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage
rate of 7.71 reports per 1,000 passengers in March, higher than March 2006's
5.81 rate but below February 2007's 8.23 mark. For the first three months of this year, the carriers posted a 8.02 mishandled
baggage rate, up from the 6.24 rate for
January-March 2006.
Bumping
The report also
includes airline reports of involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, for the first
quarter of this year. Of the 20 U.S. carriers who report on-time performance and mishandled baggage data, 18 are
also required to report their bumping records to DOT. These 18 carriers posted a bumping rate of
1.45 per 10,000 passengers for the quarter, up from the 1.31 rate for the first
quarter of 2006.
Incidents Involving
Pets
In March, carriers reported four incidents
involving pets while traveling by air, compared to two reports in February. The
March incidents involved three deaths and one injury.
Complaints
About Airline Service
In March, the Department received 1,310
complaints from consumers about airline service, up 85.3 percent from the 707 complaints
received in March 2006 and 59.2 percent more than the 823 filed in February
2007. For the first three months of this
year consumers filed 2,887 complaints, up 38.4 percent from the total of 2,086
received during January-March 2006.
Complaints About Treatment of Disabled
Passengers
The report also
contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in March against specific
airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The Department received a total of 36 disability-related
complaints in March, 16.1 percent more than the 31 received in March 2006 and
89.5 percent more than the 19 filed in February 2007. For the first three months of this year the
department received 85 disability-related complaints, 15 percent fewer than the
100 filed during January-March 2006.
Complaints About Discrimination
In March, the
Department received eight complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due to
factors other than disability - such as race, religion, national origin or sex
- compared to the totals of 11 complaints filed in March 2006 and six in
February 2007. For the first three
months of this year, the Department received 23 discrimination complaints, down
11.5 percent from the 26 received during January-March 2006.
Consumers may
file their complaints in writing with the Aviation Consumer Protection
Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, Room 4107, 400
7th St. SW, Washington, DC
20590; by e-mail at airconsumer@dot.gov; by voice mail at (202) 366-2220 or
by TTY at (202) 366-0511.
Consumers who
want on-time performance data for specific flights should call their airline
ticket offices or their travel agents. This information is available on the computerized reservation systems
used by these agents.
The Air Travel
Consumer Report can be found on DOT's World Wide Web site at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov. It is available in "pdf" and Microsoft Word
format.
Air Travel Consumer Report March 2007
Key On-Time Performance and Flight Cancellation Statistics
Based on Data Filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by the 20 Reporting Carriers
Overall
73.3 percent on-time
arrivals
Highest On-Time Arrival Rates
1. Hawaiian Airlines - 93.9 percent
2. Aloha Airlines - 93.2 percent
3. Frontier Airlines - 84.8 percent
Lowest On-Time Arrival Rates
1. US Airways - 55.5 percent
2. JetBlue Airways - 63.6 percent
3. Northwest Airlines - 66.0 percent
Most Frequently Delayed Flights
1. US Airways flight 2188 from Washington
Reagan National to New York LaGuardia - late 100 percent of the time
2. ExpressJet Airlines flight 2575 from Newark, NJ to Pittsburgh - late 96.15 percent of the time
3. Comair flight 5274 from Boston to New York JFK - late 96.00 percent of
the time
4. US Airways flight 836 from Boston to Philadelphia - late 95.00 percent of the time
5. US Airways flight 834 Charlotte, NC to Buffalo, NY - late 92.86 percent of the time
Highest Rates of Canceled Flights
1. American Eagle Airlines - 4.5 percent
2. Pinnacle Airlines - 4.2 percent
3. Comair - 4.0 percent
Lowest Rates of Canceled Flights
1. Hawaiian Airlines - 0.0 percent*
2. Frontier Airlines - 0.3 percent
3. Aloha Airlines - 0.4 percent
*Hawaiian canceled one flight in March.
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