DOT reports an increase of on-time flight arrivals

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report, released on March 16, said that air travelers in January arrived on time more often than they did the previous January.

On-time arrivals jumped from 67.7 percent in January 2014 to 76.8 percent in January of this year. In December 2014, they were 75.3 percent.
Cancellations were down in January, too, as only 2.5 percent of domestic flights were cancelled, compared with 6.5 percent a year earlier.

However, the cancellation rate was higher than in December, when only 1.4 percent of flights were scratched.

January was the first month Spirit Airlines was required to report on-time performance and mishandled baggage data to the DOT. AirTran Airways is no longer listed because of its merger with Southwest Airlines in December 2014. American Airlines and US Airways, following their December 2013 merger announcement, will report separately until the department approves single-carrier reporting and a single economic certificate is issued.

Bad weather certainly played a part in flights being late. In January, 32.84 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, up from 32.31 percent in December 2014 and 29.14 percent in January 2014.