Southwest Posts Worst On-Time Arrival Record

While two regional airlines posted worse numbers than Southwest, its numbers were particularly poor. The industry average for June was 71.8%. Two small, regional carriers had remarkably low figures–Envoy (Formerly American Eagle Airlines) at 62.2%
ExpressJet Airlines at 65.1%.  Joining Hawaiian Airlines at the top of the list were Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) at 86% Virgin America at 81.6%.

Weather was a major culprit of delays in June, the agency reported:

In June, the carriers filing on-time performance data reported that 7.39 percent of their flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 6.04 percent in May; 10.43 percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 8.18 percent in May; 7.06 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared to 6.04 percent in May; 0.90 percent by extreme weather, compared to 0.57 percent in May; and 0.03 percent for security reasons, compared to 0.03 percent in May.

Weather is a factor in both the extreme-weather category and the aviation-system category.  This includes delays due to the re-routing of flights by DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration in consultation with the carriers involved.  Weather is also a factor in delays attributed to late-arriving aircraft, although airlines do not report specific causes in that category.

Data collected by BTS (Bureau of Transportation Statistics) also shows the percentage of late flights delayed by weather, including those reported in either the category of extreme weather or included in National Aviation System delays.  In June, 37.05 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, up from 33.49 in May and down from 41.80 percent in June 2013.

In terms of level of cancellations to total flights, Delta (NYSE: DAL) did particularly well:

Highest Rates of Canceled Flights

Envoy (Formerly American Eagle Airlines) – 6.5 percent
ExpressJet Airlines – 4.9 percent
SkyWest Airlines – 3.8 percent
Lowest Rates of Canceled Flights

Delta Airlines – 0.0 percent*
Hawaiian Airlines – 0.1 percent
Frontier Airlines – 0.1 percent
*Delta Air Lines canceled 15 flights in June