Airlines hit record highs for on-time flights, luggage handling
— -- The nation's largest airlines got passengers and their bags to their destinations at record-high rates in February, according to new data released by the Transportation Department Thursday.
Airlines were on time 86.2% of the time in February, up from 83.7% the previous month and 74.5% for the same period last year, the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported. That was the best performance for a February since comparable data was first reported in 1995.
Flights are considered on time when they arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled time.
There were just 2.64 reports of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers, the lowest rate for any month since carriers first started providing data in September 1987. That means that nearly 99.7% of passengers had their bags delivered to them on time.
Cancellations were also down in February compared with the same time last year. Carriers canceled 1% of their scheduled domestic flights, down from January's 1.5% and February 2011's 4.9%. That was the lowest cancellation rate for any February.
Analysts attributed the improved performance to unusually mild weather. Only 0.35% of flights were delayed due to extreme weather, compared with 0.55% in January. The most common causes of flight delays were late-arriving aircraft and aviation system issues.
"The weather clearly didn't adversely impact winter operations as much as it usually does," says Robert Mann, president of R.W. Mann and Company, which provides industry analysis. "That's a plus. But there's less flying going on, less self-induced congestion in the system."
Mann also says that airlines should improve their performance given that they're increasingly charging fees for services that used to be rolled into the price of the ticket, such as checking bags.
"I'd like to think that the carriers are investing some of those dollars in improving the services they're delivering," he says.
Nicholas Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, which represents the industry, says airlines have been making changes in their operations that have contributed to three consecutive months of on-time arrival records.
"A combination of systematic airline operational improvements and mild winter weather delivered strong results in all DOT consumer metrics," he says.
Also for the third consecutive month, there were no airport tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights or four hours on international flights.
There were 547 consumer complaints about U.S. airlines in February, down from 708 the previous month and 553 the same time last year. Most of them were complaints about cancellations, delays and misconnections.
Airlines that were on time the most in February were Virgin America, AirTran Airways, and Hawaiian Airlines, which usually benefits from favorable weather. Frontier Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines and United Airlines had the most delays.
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