The U.S. Department of Transportation today reported the largest domestic carriers posted better on-time performance in April than the previous month and the same period in 2008.
The 19 largest U.S. carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 79.1 percent for the full month of April, compared with the 77.7 percent on time in April 2008 and 78.4 percent in March 2009. Carriers also posted fewer cancellations in April, at 1.5 percent, compared with 1.7 percent in April 2008 and 2.1 percent in March 2009.
The DOT inspector general in a report last month showed carriers last year improved their on-time performances over 2007 and continue to show improvements this year over 2008. However, those gains largely are attributed to reductions in domestic airline capacity, scheduling practices at airlines, new airline fees and declining passenger traffic
(BTNonline, May 20).