Airline on time performance falls in November

The on-time performance of U.S. airlines, their baggage handling performance and rates for cancellation of domestic services were all less favorable in November than in the previous month, but showed an improvement over November of 2007, according to a report issued by the Transportation Department on Wednesday.

As airlines in the US have reduced capacity, most have been able to improve their performance in regard to flight delays and also improve their baggage handling performance. Some, however, are still struggling, compared to their industry peers.

Hawaiian Airlines reported the best on-time performance for November, as it had the previous month; and regional carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines reported the worst on-time performance during both November and October.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the Department of Transportation stated that the 19 carriers which report on on-time performance averaged an on-time arrival rate for November of 83.3 percent, which was lower than the 86 percent recorded in October, but an increase over the 80 percent figure reported in November of 2007.

The statistics agency noted that in November the carriers recorded cancellations of 0.8 percent of their scheduled domestic services, which was higher than the previous month’s rate of 0.6 percent, but an improvement over the 1.0 percent recorded in November of 2007.

www.dot.gov