Weather A Big Factor; 2007 Still On Track For Worst-Ever Performance

Figures show 2007 continues to track as the airline industry’s worst year ever for on-time performance since record keeping started in 1995.

But there may be a glimmer of hope. Department of Transportation statistics released Monday for the top 20 carriers showed an on-time arrival rate of 81.7 percent in September... up from 76.2 percent from the same time last year, and 71.7 percent in August.

Better weather is credited for the results, as weather was a factor in more than 34 percent of late flights for the month of September. Last year at the same time, 40 percent of those flights experienced weather-related delays, according to Breitbart.com

Carriers filing on-time performance data reported 5.89 percent of their September flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 8.06 percent in August; 5.32 percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 9.27 percent in August; 5.25 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared to 7.67 percent in August; 0.56 percent by extreme weather, compared to 1.02 percent in August; and 0.05 percent for security reasons, compared to 0.08 percent in August.

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, according to DOT records.

Better than 24 percent of flights arrived late in the first nine months of 2007, making this the worst year for on-time flights since 1995.

As ANN reported, federal aviation regulators held a two-day summit aimed at fixing "epidemic" delays at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport last month.

JFK had the second-worst on-time arrival record of any major US airport through September; the FAA has proposed cutting JFK’s traffic by 20 percent to alleviate delays.

But some airlines faired better this year.

Aloha Airlines arrival rate was 95.4 percent on time, followed by Hawaiian Airlines at 93.7 percent and Frontier Airlines at 88.5 percent, according to DOT statistics.

Slightly more than 63 percent of flights on Atlantic Southeast Airlines were delayed, and one of its flights -- from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach, SC -- was late 90 percent of the time.

Delta connector SkyWest had the lowest on-time arrival rate, followed by Alaska Airlines at 73.3 percent and Northwest Airlines at 77.8 percent.

Customer complaints rose in September to 895 compared with 627 in the same month last year, according to the government data.

Baggage loss rates climbed by carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 7.25 reports per 1,000 passengers for the first nine months of this year, up from the 6.45 rate posted during January-September 2006, DOT statistics revealed.  

FMI: www.dot.gov