Five Tarmac Delays Of More Than Three Hours Reported

Airlines reporting to the U.S. Department of Transportation posted an on-time arrival rate of 83.7 percent in November 2015, up from the 80.6 percent on-time rate in November 2014, but down from the 87.0 percent mark in October 2015, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report.

In addition, in November, airlines reported five tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights and one tarmac delay of more than four hours on an international flight.  Three of the domestic tarmac delays were related to an equipment failure at New York City area airports on November 14.  All reported extended tarmac delays are investigated by the Department.
 
The consumer report also includes data on cancellations, chronically delayed flights, and the causes of flight delays filed with the Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the reporting carriers.  In addition, the consumer report contains aviation service complaints filed with DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division by consumers regarding a range of issues such as flight problems, baggage, reservation and ticketing, refunds, consumer service, disability, and discrimination.  The consumer report also includes statistics on mishandled baggage reports filed by consumers with the reporting carriers and reports of incidents involving the loss, death, or injury of animals traveling by air filed by U.S. carriers.

The reporting carriers canceled 1.0 percent of their scheduled domestic flights in November 2015, up from both the 0.9 percent cancellation rate posted in November 2014 and the 0.5 percent rate in October 2015.

At the end of November, there were no regularly scheduled flight that were chronically delayed – more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time – for two consecutive months or more.  A list of flights that were chronically delayed for a single month is available from BTS.

In November, the carriers filing on-time performance data reported total delays of 16.28 percent – 4.84 percent of their flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 4.07 percent in October; 5.18 percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 4.00 percent in October; 4.60 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared to 4.03 percent in October; 0.42 percent by extreme weather, compared to 0.24 percent in October; and 0.04 percent for security reasons, compared to 0.02 percent in October.  In addition, 0.98 percent of flights were canceled and 0.21 percent were diverted.
 
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.
 
BTS uses the data collected from airlines to determine the percentage of late flights delayed by weather, which includes those reported in the categories of extreme weather, late-arriving aircraft, and National Aviation System delays.  In November, 30.45 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, up from 28.72 percent in November 2014 and from 25.09 percent in October 2015.
 
Detailed information on flight delays and their causes is available from BTS.

(Source: BTS news release)

FMI: www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/air-travel-consumer-reports