Aloha Air back to trying harder

Hawaiian Air regains its position as the top on-time carrier in the entire United States

Hawaiian Airlines has reclaimed the No. 1 position as the nation's top on-time carrier, after giving up that honor to rival Aloha Airlines for the last two months.

The state's oldest carrier had 91.9 percent of its flights arrive on time in January, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Aloha, which launched a television campaign touting its top ranking shortly after snapping the 36-month winning streak of Hawaiian in November, was a close second at 91.6 percent.

Go!, the new interisland carrier operated by Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group said last week that its on-time rate for January was 96.3 percent, but it doesn't report the Hawaii numbers separately to the DOT.

Outside of Hawaii, the next-best reporting carrier was Southwest Airlines at 82.4 percent.

A flight is considered on time if it operates less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time shown in the carriers' computerized reservations systems.

"The consistency of excellence by our employees is the reason that Hawaiian has now been American's on-time champion for 37 of the past 39 months," said Mark Dunkerley, president and chief executive of Hawaiian.

In December, Aloha was first at 93.7 percent and Hawaiian second at 90.1 percent.

"This has been a tight, two-carrier race for six months, and we enjoy the competition," said David Banmiller, president and CEO of Aloha. "Everyone who flies us wins."

Go!, which began its Hawaii operations on June 9, has produced better on-time numbers than its parent company because it hasn't had to deal with weather-related problems. Mesa, which has 1,300 daily system departures to 173 cities and 43 states, was 13th in on-time performance at 70.5 percent.

"After eight months of operation, go! continues to bring much-needed competition and quality service to the islands of Hawaii," go! Chief Operating Officer Joe Bock said.

Hawaiian, which ranked as the nation's top on-time airline in 2004, 2005 and 2006, also was first in fewest flight cancellations at 0.2 percent, representing 11 cancellations out of 4,622 total flights. Aloha was sixth at 0.9 percent, representing 34 cancellations out of 3,875 flights. Go!, which operates four aircraft, had no cancellations in January.

Aloha Airlines was first in fewest mishandled baggage reports with 3.38 per 1,000 passengers. Hawaiian was third at 3.72.

For fewest consumer complaints, Aloha was fourth with 0.30, or one complaint, per 100,000 passengers. Hawaiian, which had seven complaints, was in 17th place at 1.28. There were 20 carriers reporting, with Mesa capturing first at 0.19 percent after receiving just two complaints.

In oversales, which refers to passengers with confirmed reservations who are involuntarily denied boarding, Aloha had the fewest with zero per 10,000 passengers in the fourth quarter. Hawaiian was fourth at 0.24. The oversales category is calculated on a quarterly basis.

Bock said go! typically doesn't break out numbers in the other categories.