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Airlines Working on Chronically-Late Flights

Overall airline performance slips slightly in October

December 4, 2007

The delays are more than an inconvenience. New York City officials yesterday said that delays at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports -- the three most congested airports in the country -- are taking a financial toll on the city and could damage its long-term economic prospects.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters says that airlines have taken steps to fix chronically delayed flights following a recent federal enforcement effort.

She said the airlines have changed flight routes, added crews and made additional aircraft available on routes with chronic delays.

“Tough scrutiny and a willingness to impose serious penalties have caused the airlines to correct these chronically delayed flights,” said Peters. “We will continue to be vigilant, and we will maintain our strong enforcement of these rules to help keep passengers from being treated unfairly.”

Starting in May of 2007, the department launched an investigation into 20 U.S. airlines to determine whether the carriers were engaging in unrealistic advertising practices by publishing schedules for flights that almost never operate on time.

The investigation concentrated on chronically delayed flights -- flights that were more than 15 minutes late, more than 70 percent of the time -- over the first three calendar quarters of this year. The department identified 183 flights that were chronically delayed during the first quarter, and in May advised the 15 airlines that operated those delayed flights that they needed to take corrective action.

In July, after the end of the second quarter, the six airlines operating 25 flights that were chronically delayed for two consecutive quarters were notified that if they failed to address these flights by the following quarter, they would face financial penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.

As a result, Peters said, by the end of September none of the chronically delayed flights from the first two quarters were chronically delayed in the third quarter. In addition, the investigation found that airlines are now monitoring chronically delayed flights more closely, and are taking a number of steps to correct chronically delayed flights.

The department also issued a proposal earlier this month to require airlines to create legally binding contingency plans for extended tarmac delays, respond to all consumer complaints within 30 days, publish complaint information online, and provide on-time performance information for their international flights in addition to their domestic flights.

October's performance

But despite progress with the chronically late flights, overall performance slipped slightly in October, compared to the month before. However, overall performance was slightly better than in October 2006.

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 20 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 78.2 percent in October, better than October 2006’s 72.9 percent -- but below September 2007’s 81.7 percent.

The report also shows that these carriers canceled 1.2 percent of their scheduled flights in October, compared with October 2006’s cancellation rate of 1.9 percent and September 2007’s 1.1 percent.

Causes of flight delays

The carriers filing on-time performance data reported that:

• 7.54 percent of their October flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared with 5.89 percent in September;

• 6.62 percent by late-arriving aircraft, versus 5.32 percent in September;

• 5.63 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared with 5.25 percent in September;

• 0.64 percent by extreme weather, as opposed to 0.56 percent in September; and

• 0.05 percent for security reasons, the same percentage as September.

Weather is a factor in both the extreme-weather category and the aviation-system category. This includes delays due to the re-routing of flights by DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration in consultation with the carriers involved. Weather is also a factor in delays attributed to late-arriving aircraft, although airlines do not report specific causes in that category.

In October, 39.83 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, down 1.44 percent from October 2006, but up 16.60 percent from September.

Mishandled baggage

The U.S. carriers reporting flight delay and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 5.36 reports per 1,000 passengers in October, compared with the 7.49 rate of October 2006 and the 5.45 rate for September 2007.

Incidents involving pets

In October, carriers reported four incidents involving pets while traveling by air, up from two incidents in September. The October incidents involved two deaths, one injury and one lost pet.

Airline service

In October, the Department received 1,096 complaints from consumers about airline service, 74.2 percent more than the 629 complaints received in October 2006 and 22.5 percent more than the total of 895 filed in September 2007.

Disabled passengers

The department received a total of 56 disability-related complaints in October, nearly double the 29 complaints received in October 2006 and up 21.7 percent from the 46 complaints received in September 2007.

Discrimination

In October, the department received 11 complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability -- such as race, religion, national origin or sex -- up slightly from both the totals of 10 discrimination complaints filed in both October 2006 and September 2007.

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