<B> On-Time Data Often Off</B>
By Barbara Cook
A new audit by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General found irregularities in airlines' reporting of departure data and recommended steps to bring more accurate information to the public.
The audit found that flights on nearly 75 percent of major domestic routes are taking longer than they did 10 years ago, that the airlines use different methods to report airport departure times to DOT, and that two airlines may be reporting inaccurate departure times.
Analyzing 10 years of data on on-time departures, the audit found that between 1988 and 1997, 1,544 of 2,115 domestic routes at the 28 largest airports showed increases in gate-to-gate times, with 113 showing increases of 10 to 20 minutes. The five routes with the largest increases were Atlanta to San Diego, Philadelphia to New York JFK, Newark to Los Angeles and San Juan, and New York LaGuardia to Louisville, Ky.
In addition to annoying the traveler, increases in gate-to-gate times result in significant costs to the airlines, ranging between $275 million and $553 million in 1997 alone, the IG said.
The reasons may be traced to runway and gate configurations, weather conditions, airline operations, volume of air traffic, airport and airway capacity and air traffic control, the IG said, and additional analysis is needed to identify ways to minimize future increases.
The IG audit also found that the number of flights departing at least one minute prior to schedule doubled, from 17 percent of the 10 carriers' flights in 1988 to nearly 34 percent in 1997. The number of flights departing five minutes or more early increased from 1 percent to 4 percent in the same time frame. These trends are supported by airline internal policies that allow flights to push back from the gate up to five minutes early if all confirmed passengers are on board the aircraft. But even while "early departures benefit consumers, since they have a greater likelihood of arriving on time, those that are regularly departing 11 or more minutes early risk denying walk-up customers the opportunity to board the flight," the IG noted.
The airlines use four different methods to report departure times: when the aircraft wheels roll, the parking brake is released, passenger and/or cargo doors are closed, or a combination of closing the doors and releasing the brake. Using different criteria could result in one aircraft reporting an on-time departure while another reports a late departure in similar circumstances, the inspector general said.
During numerous unannounced observations of departures at 14 airports, the IG's staff found that two carriers reported departure times averaging three minutes earlier than those recorded by the staff. One airline actually reported departures for 16 flights that still had the passenger door open. The IG noted that both air carriers rely on their flight crews to manually report departure times instead of the automated system used by seven of the 10 airlines.
Based on the audit findings, the IG recommended that DOT set a definition of gate departure and require all air carriers to adhere to it; take action to guarantee that travelers are notified of flights that regularly depart 11 or more minutes early; and work with the two unidentified carriers that were singled out as erroneously reporting departure times to ensure accurate reporting. It also suggested that DOT assess the reasons for the gains in gate-to-gate times on domestic routes and work with the airports and airlines to implement solutions.