Hawaiian Airlines held its position as the nation’s most punctual domestic carrier for the 15th year in a row.
Flights by the state’s largest airline arrived on schedule 87.8 percent of the time in 2018 to exceed the U.S. industry average by 8.6 percentage points, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The DOT considers a flight on time if it arrives less than 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. It covers nonstop flights between points within the U.S.
“This is our 90th year of service as Hawaii’s airline, and we’ve taken time to celebrate some of the milestones associated with that proud history, but this achievement is especially rewarding because it reflects the meticulous focus and commitment of our fantastic employees, every day and on every flight,” Hawaiian President and CEO Peter Ingram said.
“Nature presented us with some operational challenges last year, including increased volcanic activity in East Hawaii and flooding on both ends of the island chain, and our teams worked together to keep our flights operating safely and as punctually as possible.”
Delta Airlines finished second at 83.2 percent while Alaska Airlines was third at 82.7 percent. Frontier Airlines finished last at 69.4 percent among the 10 listed carriers.
Hawaiian, which began its on-time performance streak in 2004, has expanded aggressively since that time with more than 260 daily flights and nonstop service to Hawaii from 12 gateway cities in North America using Airbus A330-200 and A321neo aircraft. The airline will launch its 13th North America destination on April 4 when it begins nonstop service between Honolulu and Boston.
In the past 15 years, Hawaiian also has expanded its international network with service to the cities of Tokyo (Haneda and Narita), Osaka and Sapporo in Japan; Seoul; Sydney and Brisbane, Australia; and Auckland, New Zealand.
Hawaiian Airlines also operates, on average, more than 170 daily interisland flights using Boeing 717-200 aircraft.
In other categories, Hawaiian ranked sixth out of 12 carriers for fewest mishandled baggage reports with 2.62 per 1,000 passengers, or 24,782 reports out of more than 9.4 million passengers. The data only covers the first 11 months of 2018 because the DOT said it did not have complete mishandled baggage information for December.
Also, Hawaiian ranked fifth out of 17 airlines for fewest involuntary passengers denied boarding with 0.01 (or 13 overall) per 10,000 passengers and ranked 12th out of 17 airlines for fewest consumer complaints with 1.10 (or 128 overall) per 100,000 passengers.
STAYING PUNCTUAL
The percent that U.S.-based airlines arrived on time in 2018. A flight is considered on time if it arrives less than 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time:
1. Hawaiian Airlines 87.8%
2. Delta Air Lines 83.2%
3. Alaska Airlines 82.7%
4. Spirit Airlines 81.1%
5. Southwest Airlines 79.2%
6. United Airlines 77.9%
7. American Airlines 77.4%
8. Allegiant Air 76.9%
9. JetBlue Airways 71.0%
10. Frontier Airlines 69.4%
U.S. average 79.2%
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
