Commercial airlines improve on-time arrival rate for October

Commercial airlines reported an improvement in the number of on-time flights in October based on statistics for both the previous month and the previous year.

On-time arrivals made up 87 percent of flights reported in October, up from 86.5 percent in September 2015. In October 2014, 80 percent of reported flights arrived on time, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report.

October 2015's on-time arrival rates are the third-highest out of the last 250 months of reported statistics.

Only 0.5 percent of scheduled flights were canceled in October 2015, compared to 1.1 percent a year prior. September 2015's cancellations made up 0.4 percent of all scheduled flights -- the lowest percentage of cancellations out of the past 250 months.

Weather plays a factor in many flight delays. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that 25 percent of all delayed flights were caused by weather delays, up slightly from 24.53 percent in October 2014. In September 2015, 27.84 percent of flight delays reported were weather related.