The Department of Transportation revised the data requirements airlines must file including not only include extended runway times for flights that were latter cancelled but flights diverted to alternate airports, two items not now filed with the department. The tarmac delay data are now part of the department’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report and captured the fact that ExpressJet had five out of six of the most onerous delays in October.
“This new information will help the Department keep track of the most onerous tarmac delays while providing flyers a valuable new resource to help them choose carriers and flights,” Secretary Mary Peters said.
The new data revealed additional information from that released earlier including the fact that only 0.0001 percent of scheduled flights by the 19 reporting airlines in October, or a total of 50 flights, were delayed on the tarmac for three hours or more. Related Story
A total of six flights out of 554,325 by the reporting carriers had tarmac delays of four hours or more. ExpressJet had five out of the six with Alaska’s Flight 75 from Seattle to Juneau taking the number two spot at 269 minutes. Three of the six flights were identified owing to the new reporting requirements: one was later cancelled, one was diverted, and a third was reported because of an additional clarification in the reporting of multiple gate departures.

ExpressJet’s flights included:
• Flight 2356 from Birmingham, AL to Houston, 10/15/08 – delayed on tarmac 308 minutes
• Flight 2406 from Dallas Love Field to Houston, 10/22/08 – delayed on tarmac 269 minutes
• Flight 2497 from Houston to Wichita, KS, 10/15/08 – delayed on tarmac 256 minutes
• Flight 2335 from Kansas City, MO to Houston, 10/22/08 – delayed on tarmac 249 minutes
• Flight 2207 from Wichita, KS to Houston, 10/15/08 – delayed on tarmac 244 minutes

In another recent effort to protect airline consumers, last month the department raised the limits airlines may set on liability for lost baggage from $3,000 to $3,300 per passenger. The department also raised the maximum civil penalty for most violations of aviation economic regulations and statutes, such as failure to make required refunds, from $25,000 to $27,500. The new limits will take effect Dec. 22.
The U.S. carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.55 reports per 1,000 passengers in October, an improvement over both October 2007’s rate of 5.37 and September 2008’s 3.86 rate.

Airline On-Time Performance Improves in October
Flights operated by the nation’s largest airlines arrived on time at a higher rate this past October than in either October of last year or in September 2008, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report.
According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 86.0 percent in October, higher than both October 2007’s 78.2 percent and September 2008’s 84.9 percent.

Cancellations
The consumer report includes BTS data on the number of domestic flights cancelled by the reporting carriers. In October, the carriers cancelled 0.6 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, a lower rate than both the 1.2 percent cancellation rate of September 2007 and the 1.8 percent rate posted in September 2008.

Causes of Flight Delays
In October, the carriers filing on-time performance data reported that 5.17 percent of their flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 5.10 percent in September; 3.93 percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 3.62 percent in September; 3.86 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared to 4.02 percent in September; 0.26 percent by extreme weather, compared to 0.40 percent in September; and 0.03 percent for security reasons, compared to 0.02 percent in September.
Data collected by BTS 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 October, 34.49 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, down 13.41 percent from October 2007, when 39.83 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, and down 6.96 percent from September when 37.07 percent of late flights were delayed by weather.
As previously reported, Pinnacle bested all air carriers in its on-time arrival rate at 90.7, followed by Northwest and Hawaiian. Related Story
Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the lowest rate at 80.3 percent followed by Mesa at 80.5 percent and Continental at 81.4 percent. Most frequently delayed flights took on new significance as the department now considers flights that are delayed more than 70 percent of the time an unfair and deceptive practice.  Related Story
ExpressJet’s Flight 2396 from Newark to Detroit was late 85.19 percent of the time, followed by American’s Flight 933 from New York to Miami at 80.65 percent of the time. SkyWest joined the group with its Flight 5727 from Portland, OR to North Bend, OR, a relatively new service – late 80.00 percent of the time. Related Story
Mesa and American Eagle ranked numbers one and two for the highest rate of canceled flights at 1.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, followed by Alaska, also at 0.8 percent. Northwest, Frontier and Continental had the lowest rate of canceled flights.