Hawaiian Airlines continues its reign as the nation’s most punctual carrier.
Domestic flights of the state’s largest airline arrived on schedule 85.7 percent of the time in January, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Hawaiian has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 13 years.
The national average for on-time performance in January among the 12 reporting carriers was 76 percent, down from 81.3 percent a year earlier. Delta Air Lines was second in January at 80.7 percent while Virgin America was last at 63.9 percent.
Hawaiian also ranked first in fewest flight cancellations during the month with 0.3 percent, representing 18 cancellations out of 6,276 flights.
In other categories, Hawaiian had the fifth-fewest consumer complaints with 0.77 per 100,000 passengers and eighth-fewest mishandled-baggage reports with 3.51 per 1,000 passengers.
While Hawaiian encountered little trouble keeping its flights on time, other airlines encountered difficulty with long delays.
There were 42 flights in January stuck on the ground so long that the airlines could face fines. That is the highest number of long ground delays in one month since February 2010, shortly before the rule allowing fines took effect.
The Transportation Department said 30 domestic flights were delayed on the ground at least three hours, and 12 international flights were stuck at least four hours. Those flights appeared to violate federal rules requiring airlines to give long-delayed passengers a chance to get off the plane. The department said it was investigating all 42 incidents.
The department said that 2 percent of flights on the leading 12 U.S. airlines were canceled in January, down from 2.6 percent in January 2016 but worse than December.
Consumers filed 20 percent fewer complaints about U.S. airlines than they did a year earlier. Few consumers bother to file a report with the Transportation Department; many more complain directly to the airline instead.
STAYING PUNCTUAL
The on-time performance rankings in January by the top 12 U.S. airlines. A flight is considered on time if it arrives less than 15 minutes after scheduled.
RANK / AIRLINE / PERCENT ON TIME
1. Hawaiian Airlines 85.7
2. Delta Air Lines 80.7
3. American Airlines 79.2
4. United Airlines 78.4
5. Alaska Airlines 77.6
6. Southwest Airlines 74.6
7. Spirit Airlines 72.8
8. JetBlue Airways 72.8
9. ExpressJet Airlines 72.8
10. Skywest Airlines 71.0
11. Frontier Airlines 69.3
12. Virgin America 63.9
Total 76.0%
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
