Major airlines set record for on-time arrivals in November
The nation’s largest airlines posted a record on-time arrival rate of 88.6% in November, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Thursday.
During the same month, the airlines also set a record for the lowest rate of mishandled baggage in a single month since the data were first collected in September 1987.
The November on-time rate for the country’s 19 largest carriers compared with a 83.3% rate for November 2008 and a 77.3% rate for October 2009, according to the agency. The previous on-time high for carriers recorded since the data were first collected in January 1995 was 88% in September 2002.
The rate of mishandled baggage for the U.S. carriers in November was 2.78 reports per 1,000 passengers, an improvement over both the November 2008 rate of 3.75 reports and the October 2009 rate of 3.48 reports. The previous low rate for mishandled baggage was 3.01 in September 2009.
The improved airline service can be attributed in part to an overall reduction in flights because of falling demand, a renewed effort among airlines to meet on-time goals and mild weather in November, said David A. Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Assn., a trade group that represents the country’s largest airlines.
Airline officials expect lower on-time rates for December because of increased security measures after the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack and a series of strong winter storms that stranded airline passengers in the Northeast in the last two weeks of the month.
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