AirTran Airways tops all U.S. airlines in the latest rankings for on-time arrivals, knocking off perennial winner Hawaiian Airlines.
The bad news for passengers who love punctuality: You can’t fly on AirTran anymore.
The low-fare carrier flew its last revenue flight Dec. 28 and has been folded into Southwest Airlines, which bought AirTran in 2011.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday that 80.6 percent of domestic flights on the 14 biggest airlines arrived within 14 minutes of schedule in November. That was better than October’s 80 percent on-time rate but down from 83.5 percent in November 2013.
AirTran posted a 90.4 percent rating, and Hawaiian was second at 89.4 percent.
If AirTran flights are combined with Southwest flights, the on-time percentage drops to 81.4, or fifth place. When the numbers are viewed that way, Hawaiian is still at the top of the list.
Alaska Airlines was third at 84.7 percent, and Virgin America fourth at 82.7 percent.
The outcome was like an upset in football. AirTran beat its recent on-time rate by about 10 percentage points. Hawaiian slipped a bit but is almost certain to finish 2014 with the best on-time record for the full year by a wide margin. It has a built-in advantage: Many of its domestic flights are short hops between islands, far from the snow and ice of the Northeast and upper Midwest. Hawaiian has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for the last 10 years.
Among the four largest airlines, Delta performed best at 86.6 percent.
Envoy Air finished last among all airlines, with an on-time rating of 69.3 percent. Envoy operates many American Eagle regional flights for American Airlines.
Passengers on four November flights sat on the tarmac for more than three hours, a violation of federal rules that could result in fines. Three of those delays occurred during a Nov. 22 ice storm in Detroit.
Airlines canceled 4,301 domestic flights, or just under 1 percent, slightly lower than the rate a year earlier.
In other categories, Hawaiian was second for fewest passengers denied boarding at 0.08 per 10,000 passengers, fifth for fewest mishandled-baggage reports with 1.93 per 1,000 passengers, and sixth for fewest consumer complaints with 0.62 per 100,000 passengers,
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Star-Advertiser reporter Dave Segal contributed to this story.
