Hawaiian tops DOT’s March on-time report

US carriers’ on-time performance (OTP) in March improved over the same period a year ago, but was worse than February’s report.

The US Dept. of Transportation’s (DOT) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that the 15 carriers which log on-time performance data posted an overall OTP arrival rate of 82.2% in March, up from 79.2% in March 2011, but down from 86.2% in February.

In March, the carriers filing OTP data reported that 4.99% of their flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 4.13% in February; 6.16% by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 4.33% in February; 4.9% by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared to 3.85% in February; 0.51% by extreme weather, compared to 0.35% in February; and 0.02% for security reasons, compared to 0.03% in February.

Hawaiian Airlines led all carriers in March with an on-time arrival rate of 92.5%. AirTran Airways followed by 90.9% and US Airways at 87.3%.

The three worst performers were ExpressJet Airlines at 74.1%, Virgin America at 74.9% and United Airlines at 77.4%.

DOT said airlines reported three tarmac delays of more than 3 hr. on domestic flights and no tarmac delays of more than 4 hr. on international flights in March. All the long domestic tarmac delays took place March 17 in St. Louis, a day when severe stormshit the area. The affected carriers were American Airlines (219 min.), Shuttle America (187 min.) and ExpressJet Airlines (183 min.).

Article Source : ATW Daily News