4 of 5 Flights on Time in July, Airline Report Shows
Despite heavy summer travel, major U.S. airlines reported that better than four of every five flights arrived on time during July, the Transportation Department said Thursday.
Two carriers serving the Sun Belt--America West and Southwest Airlines--had the best on-time performance, with more than 91% of their flights arriving on time.
Pan American World Airways had the worst arrival record among the 13 airlines monitored, with only 68.8% of its July flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule, the government’s on-time standard. Pan Am also had the highest consumer complaint rate during August, the latest month for which those statistics were provided.
Overall, 81.5% of the more than 441,000 flights during July arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, slightly fewer than the 84.3% during June.
The Transportation Department began monitoring arrival rates last September amid growing complaints about flight delays and poor service. Since then, the carriers’ on-time performance has improved, although some of that is believed to be attributed to good weather.
The figures do not include delays caused by mechanical problems, but do include those that are due to poor weather.
Delta Air Lines, which earlier this year struggled well down the list in on-time performance among the 13 carriers, posted the third best arrival rate in July, with 86.1% of its flights on time.
In addition to Pan Am, the airlines with the worst record were Piedmont Airlines and USAir, both of which reported arrival rates of slightly better than 74%.
David Shipley, a USAir spokesman, blamed the poor showing on the closing of a runway for reconditioning at the Pittsburgh airport, where USAir has its biggest hub, as well as weather problems. He said 10% of USAir’s arrival delays were linked to the runway being closed.
Piedmont is a subsidiary of USAir Corp., although it operates independently of USAir.
Salt Lake City had the best arrival rate--92.3%--of the 27 airports monitored. The other two airports with arrival rates of better than 90% were Phoenix and Las Vegas.
The three New York area airports--LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark International--as well as Philadelphia had the worst arrival rate, with about one-third of their flights delayed, reflecting often-poor weather and heavy air traffic in the Northeast.
Meanwhile, complaints from air travelers to the Transportation Department’s office of consumer affairs continued to decline compared to 1987.
During August, the department received 2,363 complaints from air travelers, two-thirds fewer than the 7,337 received during the same month a year ago.
PERFORMANCE BY CARRIER
Overall percentage of flights arriving on time in June:
Airline: Percentage America West: 93.9 Southwest: 91.5 Delta: 86.1 Alaska: 86.0 American: 85.9 Continental: 83.0 United: 80.9 Northwest: 79.2 Eastern: 77.1 TWA: 76.6 USAir: 74.4 Piedmont: 74.2 Pan American: 68.8 Source: Dept. of Transportation ON-TIME FLIGHTS AT LAX Percentage of on-time flights at L.A. International in June:
Airline: Percentage America West: 93.3 Southwest: 93.3 Delta: 90.9 American: 89.8 USAir: 89.2 Alaska: 86.7 United: 84.9 Continental: 84.7 Eastern: 83.4 Piedmont: 80.1 Northwest: 77.8 TWA: 76.9 Pan American: 73.0 Source: Dept. of Transportation PASSENGER REPORTS OF MISHANDLED BAGGAGE
Airline Passengers Boarded Reports Per 1,000 Passengers Pan American 675,480 2.95 Southwest 1,519,688 3.87 America West 1,121,158 6.34 Eastern 2,955,802 6.40 United 5,159,989 6.63 American 5,495,567 6.65 Alaska 511,735 6.73 Northwest 2,981,963 7.00 Delta 5,124,701 7.15 USAir 3,139,655 7.38 Continental 3,423,156 7.58 Piedmont 2,480,477 9.27 TWA 2,099,060 11.65
Source: Dept. of Transportation
