June Airline On-Time Performance Better Than Last Year But Down From May
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DOT 113-09
Bill Mosley
202-366-4570 |
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Tuesday,
August 4, 2009 - The
nation’s largest airlines had a rate of on-time flights this past June that was
higher than the same month last year but down from the mark reported in May 2009,
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 19 carriers reporting on-time
performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 76.1 percent in June, better
than the 70.8 percent on-time rate of June 2008 but down from May 2009’s 80.5
percent.
The monthly report also includes data
on lengthy tarmac delays, flight cancellations and the causes of flight delays
by the reporting carriers, as well as information on airline bumping, 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
U.S. carriers.
Cancellations
The consumer report includes BTS data on the number of
domestic flights canceled by the reporting carriers. In June, the
carriers canceled 1.5 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, lower than the
1.8 percent cancellation rate of June 2008 but higher than the 0.9 percent rate
posted in May 2009.
Tarmac Delays
In June, the carriers filing
on-time performance data reported that .0499 percent of their scheduled flights
had tarmac delays of three hours or more, up from .0064 percent in May. There were 42 flights with tarmac delays of
four hours or more in June.
Causes of Flight Delays
In June, the carriers filing on-time
performance data reported that 7.69 percent of their flights were delayed by
aviation system delays, compared to 7.36 percent in May; 7.54 percent by
late-arriving aircraft, compared to 5.84 percent in May; 5.94 percent by
factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared
to 4.56 percent in May; 0.83 percent by extreme weather, compared to 0.62
percent in May; and 0.04 percent for security reasons, compared to 0.03 percent
in May. 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 June, 43.48 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, down
7.90 percent from June 2008, when 47.21 percent of late flights were delayed by
weather, and down 7.51 percent from May when 47.01 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 delays and mishandled baggage data posted a
mishandled baggage rate of 4.17 reports per 1,000 passengers in June, an
improvement over June 2008’s rate of 5.15 but up from May 2009’s 3.56 rate. For the first six months of the year, the
carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.05 per 1,000 passengers, down
from the 5.82 rate for the first half of 2008.
Bumping
The report also includes reports
of involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, for the second quarter and first
six months of this year. The 19 U.S. carriers who report denied boarding data posted a bumping rate of 1.39 per
10,000 passengers for the quarter, up from the 1.00 rate for the second quarter
of 2008. For the first six months of
this year, the carriers had a bumping rate of 1.35 per 10,000 passengers, up
from the rate of 1.17 rate posted during the first six months of 2008.
Incidents Involving
Pets
In June, carriers reported five incidents
involving the loss, death or injury of pets while traveling by air, up from
both the four incidents reported in June 2008 and three in May 2009. June’s incidents involved four deaths and one
injured pet.
Complaints
About Airline Service
In June, the Department received 747 complaints
about airline service from consumers, down 15.4 percent from the 883 complaints
filed in June 2008 but 13.9 percent above the 656 complaints received in May
2009. For the first six months of
this year, passengers filed 4,354 complaints, down 27.5 percent from the total
of 6,002 received during January-June 2008.
Complaints About Treatment of Disabled
Passengers
The report also
contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in June against airlines
regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The Department received a total of 54
disability-related complaints in June, higher than both the total of 29
complaints filed in June 2008 and the 39 received in May 2009. For the first six months of the year, the
Department received 254 disability-related complaints, up 11.9 percent from the
227 filed during January-June 2008.
Complaints
About Discrimination
In June,
the Department received 10 complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due
to factors other than disability – such as race, religion, national origin or
sex – up from the total of eight recorded in June 2008 but down from the total
of 13 received in May 2009. For the
first six months of this year the Department received 55 discrimination
complaints, the same total recorded during January-June 2008.
Consumers may
file their complaints in writing with the Aviation Consumer Protection
Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, W96-432, 1200
New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC
20590; by voice mail at (202)
366-2220 or by TTY at (202) 366-0511; or on the web at http://airconsumer.dot.gov.
Consumers who
want on-time performance data for specific flights should call their airline’s reservation
number or their travel agent. 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.dot.gov. It is available in “pdf” and Microsoft Word
format.
Air Travel Consumer Report June 2009
Key On-Time Performance and Flight Cancellation Statistics
Based on Data Filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by the 19 Reporting Carrier
Overall
76.1 percent on-time arrivals
Highest On-Time
Arrival Rates
1. Hawaiian
Airlines – 93.3 percent
2. Alaska
Airlines – 84.5 percent
3. ExpressJet
Airlines – 82.0 percent
Lowest On-Time
Arrival Rates
1. Comair
– 59.8 percent
2. Frontier
Airlines – 68.0 percent
3. American
Airlines – 69.2 percent
Most Frequently
Delayed Flights
1. Pinnacle Airlines flight 2330 from Minneapolis/St.
Paul to Fort Wayne, IN
– late 100 percent of the time
2. Comair flight 6662 from Charlotte,
NC to New York JFK – late 96.67 percent of
the time
3. Comair flight 6655 from Washington Dulles to
New York JFK – late 96.67 percent of the time
4. Northwest Airlines flight 1554 from West
Palm Beach, FL to Boston
– late 96.30 percent of the time
5. JetBlue Airways flight 707 from Boston
to New York JFK – late 93.75 percent of the time
Flights with Longest Tarmac
Delays
1. JetBlue
Airways flight 12 from New York JFK to Syracuse,
NY, 6/26/09 – delayed on tarmac 328 minutes
2. ExpressJet
Airlines flight 2173 from New York LaGuardia to Cleveland,
6/30/09 – delayed on
tarmac 310 minutes
3. Mesa
Airlines flight 7323 from Grand Rapids, MI
to Chicago O’Hare, 6/19/09
– delayed on tarmac 299 minutes
4. Mesa
Airlines flight 7343 from Washington Dulles to Huntsville/Decatur, AL,
6/3/09 – delayed on
tarmac 291 minutes
5. United
Airlines flight 140 from Washington Dulles to Las
Vegas, 6/3/09
– delayed on tarmac 290 minutes
Highest Rates of
Canceled Flights
1. Comair
– 5.3 percent
2. American
Eagle Airlines – 3.1 percent
3. American
Airlines – 2.8 percent
Lowest Rates of Canceled Flights
1. Continental Airlines – 0.2 percent
2. Alaska
Airlines – 0.3 percent
3. Hawaiian
Airlines – 0.4 percent
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