U.S. airlines improve on-time performances in 2008
— -- With their capacity heavily cut, the U.S. airlines' on-time performance improved in 2008 compared to the previous year, according to a federal report released Monday.
More than two-thirds — 76% — of the flights operated by the nation's 19 largest airlines arrived on time last year, an improvement over 2007's 73.4%, says the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight is considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule. Only those airlines whose domestic scheduled flight passenger revenue is at least 1% of the market are required to report their performance data.
Coping with the start of the winter season and facing heavy holiday traffic, the carriers' on-time performance in December — 65.3% — deteriorated from November, when 83.3% of arrivals landed on time. In December 2007, 64.3% of flights arrived on time.
About 45% of delays were caused by weather, the report says.
Sluggish demand and rising fuel prices have forced domestic airlines to eliminate non-profitable routes last year, particularly in the second half. And flying fewer seats and flights, the U.S. airlines had a decidedly easier time pushing planes out of the gates promptly.
"2007 was the worst year we've had in a long time," says Dean Headley, a marketing professor at Wichita State University and co-author of annual The Airline Quality Rating. "Finally, airlines began to realize capacity and demand needed to match better. In 2007, they were working with the idea of 'let's just get some flights out there.' They were losing their rear."
Other performance indicators monitored by the Department of Transportation also improved last year. In December, the carriers canceled 3.3% of their scheduled domestic flights, down from 3.5% in December 2007 but higher than the 0.8% rate in November 2008.
Regional airlines typically perform the worst in the category, and December was no exception. American Eagle, Comair and Pinnacle respectively had the highest percentage of flights canceled in December.
