Hawaiian Air is again No. 1 for punctual plane flights

Hawaiian Airlines has earned the distinction of being the nation’s most punctual airline for 12 years in a row.

The state’s largest carrier posted the top ranking in nine of 12 months last year and averaged an 88.4 percent on-time performance rating for 2015. That exceeded the industry average of 13 airlines by 8.5 percentage points, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data released Thursday.

For December, Hawaiian Airlines ranked first for flight arrivals with 93 percent of its flights landing within 14 minutes of their scheduled time. Hawaiian also ranked first for fewest flight cancellations with 0.1 percent, or five cancellations out of 6,260 flights, and first for fewest consumer complaints with 0.34, or 3 complaints per 100,000 passengers.

In other categories, Hawaiian ranked second in passengers denied boarding in the fourth quarter with 0.03 per 10,000 passengers, and placed fifth in December for fewest mishandled-baggage reports with 3.24 per 1,000 passengers.

“We have more than 5,500 employees at Hawaiian Airlines, and it’s thanks to their commitment and hard work that we have led the nation in on-time performance every year since 2004,” Hawaiian President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said.

In addition to finishing first in 2015 for on-time performance, Hawaiian ranked second during the year for passengers denied boarding with 0.03 per 10,000 passengers, fifth for fewest mishandled-baggage reports with 2.65 per 1,000 passengers and seventh for fewest consumer complaints with 1.06 per 100,000 passengers.

There also were 63 incidents, including 35 deaths, involving pets during the year on those reporting airlines. There were 14 pets that died on United Airlines, which had the sixth most domestic flights at 43,443. There also were 11 pet deaths on Delta Air Lines, which had the third most flights at 70,639, and three pet deaths each on Alaska and American airlines. Hawaiian was one of four airlines that had one pet death.

BEING ON TIME

The government’s rankings of the leading airlines and their on-time performance for December. The federal government counts a flight as on time if it arrives within 14 minutes of schedule:

1. Hawaiian Airlines, 93.0%

2. Alaska Airlines, 85.3%

3. Delta Air Lines, 83.6%

4. Envoy Air, 80.4%

5. American Airlines, 79.2%

6. United Airlines, 77.9%

7. ExpressJet, 77.3%

8. Southwest Airlines, 76.1%

9. Frontier Airlines, 75.0%

10. SkyWest Airlines, 72.9%

11. Virgin America, 71.1%

12. JetBlue Airways, 70.1%

13. Spirit Airlines, 68.7%

Average, 77.8%