US-based airlines better on-time performance in May 2009

Though several airlines based in the United States have cut a number of flights, they performed better in terms of on-time arrivals in May 2009 compared to 2008. The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) defines on-time arrival as a flight arriving within 15 minutes of the ending time listed in a given airline’s own computerised reservations system.

The DOT said that it received 656 complaints about airline service from consumers in May 2009 – down from 2008 as well as from April 2009.

According to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report issued by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the Department of Transportation, 19 US-based airlines reported an overall on-time arrival rate of 80.5% in May 2009, which is up from 79.1% in April 2009 and 79% in May 2008.

Cancelled flights came down to 0.9% in May 2009 from 1.5% in April 2009.

The DOT report shows that the carriers bettered their performance vis-à-vis on-time arrival in all months of 2009 except March and also performed better than they did in the first five months of 2008.

This improved on-time performance was largely thanks to the reduced number of flights in May 2009, which, in turn, eased congestion in airports.

Airlines across the United States are offering lesser number of seats since fewer number of people are opting for air travel owing to the economic downturn.

Among the top on-time performers, Hawaiian Airlines was on-time for 90.3% of its scheduled flights.

The flight schedules of SkyWest Airlines and Pinnacle Airlines were on-time for 86.8%.

Comair, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, was on-time only 65.7% of its flights.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines, based in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, flew on schedule 70.8% of the time.

AirTran Airways took off 75.6% of the time on schedule.

According to the Department of Transportation, cancellations of fights dropped to 0.9% in May 2009, compared with 1% a year earlier and 1.5% in April 2009.

Continental Airlines cancelled the least number of flights – with a rate of cancellation of only 0.2%.

American Eagle Airlines, the regional subsidiary of American Airlines, had the worst rare of cancellation – at 2.2%.

American Airlines had the third worst cancellation, with a rate of rate of 1.4%.

The Air Travel Consumer Report of the Department of Transportation shows that passengers reported lesser number of cases of mishandled baggage, with the US-based airlines registering a rate of mishandled baggage of 3.56 per 1,000 passengers in May 2009.

This is an improvement over the figures of 4.6 per 1,000 passengers in May 2008, and 3.79 per 1,000 passengers in April 2009.

As for tarmac delays, in May 2009, a total of 25 flights waited for three hours or more in taxi-lanes before taking off.

Mesa Airlines, American Eagle, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue each reported a flight with a ground delay of four hours or more – with two of them happening at the crowded John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Miami International Airport was the worst large airport regarding delayed takeoffs, with 29% takeoffs taking place late, followed by LaGuardia Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

LaGuardia Airport was the worst in the matter of late arrivals.

Of the 32 airports surveyed by the US Department of Transportation, Salt Lake City International Airport had the lowest rate of late departures and arrivals.