Isle airlines lead on-time stats again

WASHINGTON » U.S. airline delays in November fell for the third consecutive month as carriers took steps such as canceling flights rather than let late-arriving planes clog airports. Once again, Hawaii's two largest carriers came out on top.

Nationally, the on-time arrival rate was 80 percent, up from 77 percent a year earlier, according to a U.S. Transportation Department report released today.

Hawaiian Holdings Inc.'s Hawaiian Airlines, Aloha Airgroup Inc.'s Aloha Airlines led the industry with on-time arrival rates of 92.4 percent and 91.6 percent, respectively. Delta Air Lines Inc. was third, at 85.6 percent, according to the Transportation Department report.

The run of improvements may end for most carriers when December figures are tallied, because preliminary data show weather delays rose last month, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Continental Airlines Inc. said yesterday its December rate was 66 percent due to "numerous winter storms," down from 78 percent in November.

About 74.2 percent of flights arrived on time for the first 11 months of 2007, the lowest figure since the same period in 2000. The agency defines on-time flights as those arriving within 15 minutes of schedule.

UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, ranked No. 2 and No. 1 worldwide by passenger traffic, had the lowest on-time rates in November of 75.5 percent and 75.6 percent, respectively.