Flight Delays Down in First Four Months

Eight of every 10 flights arrived on time during the first four months of 2002, the highest percentage in at least eight years, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said.

Statistics show that 80% of commercial flights arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. That’s the highest percentage since the current record-keeping system began in 1995, when 76% of flights arrived on time. Between January and April 2001, 72% of flights arrived on time.

So many flights were on schedule because air traffic has not returned to normal after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Darryl Jenkins, director of the aviation institute at George Washington University.