Airline On-Time Performance Improves In February
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DOT 44-09
Bill Mosley
202-366-4570 |
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Thursday, April 9, 2009 - The nation’s largest
airlines had a higher rate of on-time flights this past February than in either
February of last year or in January 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 82.6 percent in February,
an improvement over both February 2008’s 68.6 percent and January 2009’s 77.0 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 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 February, the
carriers canceled 1.2 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, a lower rate
than both the 3.6 percent cancellation rate of February 2008 and the 2.3
percent rate posted in January 2009.
Tarmac Delays
In February, the carriers filing
on-time performance data reported that .00009 percent of their scheduled
flights had tarmac delays of three hours or more, down from .0002 percent in
January. There were five flights with
tarmac delays of four hours or more in February.
Causes of Flight Delays
In February, the carriers filing
on-time performance data reported that 6.58 percent of their flights were
delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 8.04 percent in January; 4.79
percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 6.29 percent in January; 4.17 percent
by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared
to 5.09 percent in January; 0.43 percent by extreme weather, compared to 0.96
percent in January; and 0.02 percent for security reasons, compared to 0.04
percent in January. 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 show 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 February, 43.31 percent of late flights were delayed by weather,
down 7.69 percent from February 2008, when 46.92 percent of late flights were
delayed by weather, and down 0.69 percent from January when 43.61 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 3.56 reports per 1,000 passengers in February, an improvement over both
February 2008’s rate of 6.41 and January 2009’s 5.20 rate.
Incidents Involving
Pets
In February, carriers reported two incidents
involving the loss, death or injury of pets while traveling by air, compared to
one incident in February 2008 and no incidents in January 2009. February’s incidents involved one death and
one lost pet.
Complaints
About Airline Service
In February, the Department received 576
complaints about airline service from consumers, down 38.5 percent from the 937
complaints filed in February 2008 and 34.8 percent fewer than the total of 884
complaints received in January 2009.
Complaints About Treatment of Disabled
Passengers
The report also
contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in February against airlines
regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The Department received a total of 33
disability-related complaints in February, fewer than both the 35 complaints
received in February 2008 and the total of 42 received in January 2009.
Complaints
About Discrimination
In February,
the Department received three complaints alleging discrimination by airlines
due to factors other than disability – such as race, religion, national origin
or sex – down from both the nine complaints received in February 2008 and the
total of six filed in January 2009.
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 February 2009
Key On-Time Performance and Flight Cancellation Statistics
Based on Data Filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by the 19 Reporting Carriers
Overall
82.6 percent on-time arrivals
Highest On-Time
Arrival Rates
1. Hawaiian
Airlines – 91.2 percent
2. Southwest
Airlines – 88.3 percent
3. Pinnacle
Airlines – 86.8 percent
Lowest On-Time
Arrival Rates
1. Alaska Airlines – 76.3 percent
2. Comair
– 76.6 percent
3. Continental
Airlines – 77.7 percent
Most Frequently
Delayed Flights
1. Delta Air Lines flight 2008 from
Savannah,
GA to
Atlanta – late 94.12
percent of the time
2. SkyWest Airlines flight 4577 from
Atlanta to
San
Antonio,
TX – late
93.33 percent of the time
3. ExpressJet Airlines flight 2424 from
Cincinnati to
Newark,
NJ – late 90.91 percent of the
time
4. Delta Air Lines flight 2028 from
Fort Lauderdale,
FL to
Atlanta – late 89.29
percent of the time
5. Comair flight 6309 from
Newark,
NJ to
Cincinnati
– late 87.50 percent of the time
5. ExpressJet Airlines flight 2478 from
Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC to
Newark,
NJ – late 87.50 percent of the
time
Flights with Longest Tarmac
Delays
1. US
Airways flight 1165 from
Philadelphia
to Charlotte, NC, 2/3/09 – delayed on tarmac 259 minutes
2. American
Airlines flight 1769 from
Philadelphia
to Chicago O’Hare, 2/3/2009 – delayed on tarmac 252 minutes
3. Comair
flight 6631 from New York JFK to Raleigh/Durham, NC, 2/3/09 – delayed on
tarmac 248 minutes
4. Comair
flight 6503 from New York JFK to
St.
Louis, 2/3/09 – delayed on tarmac 244 minutes
5. Northwest
Airlines flight 1761 from
Philadelphia to
Detroit, 2/3/09 – delayed on tarmac 240 minutes
Highest Rates of
Canceled Flights
1. American
Airlines – 2.2 percent
2. ExpressJet Airlines – 2.2 percent
3.
Mesa Airlines – 1.8 percent
Lowest Rates of Canceled Flights
1. Hawaiian Airlines – 0.1 percent
2. Frontier
Airlines – 0.2 percent
3. Northwest
Airlines – 0.6 percent
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