Hawaiian Airlines is top on-time carrier for ninth straight year

Hawaiian Airlines was the most punctual U.S. carrier in 2012 for the ninth year in a row.

The state’s largest airline averaged a 93.4 percent on-time performance after earning the top ranking in 11 of the 12 months, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Consumer Report issued today. Hawaiian exceeded the industry average of 81.9 percent by 11.5 percentage points.

For December, Hawaiian posted a 93.3 percent on-time performance to top 14 other carriers. The industry average for the month was 76.6 percent.

Hawaiian also was first for fewest flight cancellations in 2012 with only 67 out of 74,109 flights for the year. That works out to a cancellation rate of less than one tenth of 1 percent. In December, Hawaiian ranked first for fewest cancellations with seven out of 6,071 total flights, or 0.1 percent.

In the category of oversales, or passengers denied boarding, Hawaiian was third in 2012 for the lowest rate at 0.18 per 10,000 passengers, or 168 cases out of more than 9.4 million passengers. Oversales are reported on a quarterly basis. In December, Hawaiian was third with 0.17 per 10,000 passengers, or 41 cases out of more than 2.4 million passengers.

Hawaiian didn’t fare as well in two other categories.

For mishandled baggage reports, Hawaiian was seventh in 2012 with 26,021 reports out of more than 9 million passengers, or 2.88 reports per 1,000 passengers. In December, Hawaiian was sixth with 2,311 reports for 765,146 passengers, or 3.02 per 1,000 passengers.

In consumer complaints, Hawaiian was eight for 2012 with 0.89 per 100,000 passengers, or 84 our of more than 9.4 million passengers. In December, Hawaiian was 12th with 1.60 complaints per 100,000 passengers, or 13 out of 812,395 passengers.