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| Courtesy Delta Air Lines |
The on-time performance of the nation’s largest airlines improved in 2010 compared to the previous year, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Information shows that the 18 largest carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 79.8 percent for January through December 2010, an improvement on 2009’s 79.5 percent on-time arrival rate. During December 2010, carriers posted an on-time performance rate of 72 percent, the same rate as December 2009, but down from the 83.2 percent rate in November 2010.
In December, the airlines who file on-time data with the Department reported three domestic flights with tarmac delays of more than three hours, down from 34 in December 2009. Data showed there have been only 15 total tarmac delays of more than three hours reported from May through December 2010 by the 18 airlines that file on-time performance data with DOT, compared to 584 during the same eight-month period of 2009.
In December, carriers also reported that .06 percent of their scheduled flights had tarmac delays of two hours or more, up from .02 percent in November.
