Fewer Delays in May, U.S. Says

Airline on-time performance improved in May, to 79 percent compared with 77.9 petcent in May 2007 and 77.7 percent in April of 2008, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics says in a report today.

Another indicator – mishandled (including delayed, damaged or lost) bags – also showed improvement. In May, 4.59 of 1,000 bags were mishandled, compared with 5.94 per 1,000 in May of 2007 and 4.99 in April of 2008.

So that’s good news, right? On the other hand, the system is being used less by passengers. Airline operating data for June generally show a continuing decline in the number of passengers, load factors and individual flights. More detail on that later.

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Airline On-Time Arrival Pct May 2008
	Carrier	On-Time Arrival Pct.
1	Hawaiian	88.89
2	Pinnacle	85.93
3	AirTran	84.69
4	Skywest	84.47
5	Delta	84.06
6	Atlantic Southeast	83.83
7	US Airways	83.62
8	Southwest	80.92
9	Alaska	80.35
10	JetBlue	79.24
11	Northwest	78.89
12	Comair	78.44
13	Mesa	76.90
14	Frontier	76.46
15	American Eagle	76.28
16	ExpressJet	76.06
17	Continental	75.39
18	United	72.42
19	American	67.28
	All Airlines	79.02
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Airline On-Time Arrival Pct Year-to-Date Jan-May 2008
	Carrier	On-Time Arrival Pct.
1	Hawaiian	92.24
2	US Airways	80.00
3	Alaska	77.95
4	Southwest	77.78
5	Delta	77.56
6	Frontier	76.74
7	SkyWest	76.21
8	AirTran	75.84
9	JetBlue	74.26
10	Pinnacle	74.16
11	Atlantic Southeast	73.83
12	Continental	73.00
13	Northwest	72.72
14	ExpressJet	72.17
15	Mesa	71.55
16	Comair	70.66
17	United	68.91
18	American Eagle	68.82
19	American	64.56
20	Aloha*	94.33
	All Airlines	73.90
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
* Aloha stopped reporting on-time data after February

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