Flight Delays in June Were Among Worst on Record, Government Says
A traveler surveyed a list of flight cancellations recently at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
(By Frank Franklin Ii -- Associated Press)
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Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Woe be unto those who took a domestic flight in June.
The month was the one of the worst for air travelers in the past 12 years, according to data released by the Transportation Department yesterday. Nearly a third of domestic flights operated by major U.S. airlines were delayed or canceled, and the first six months of the year had the most delays the industry has experienced since the government began tracking data in 1995.
Delays at the three Washington area airports worsened only slightly compared with a year ago.
In June, 62 percent of flights landed on time at Ronald Reagan National Airport, compared with 69 percent last year. At Dulles International Airport, 64 percent of flights arrived on time, down from 67 percent. At Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, 69 percent of flights arrived on time, compared with 70 percent last year.
The decrease in the percentage of on-time arrivals can be blamed on the tough storms that roared across the northeast region in June, said Richard DeiTos, the executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Airlines Committee, which represents airlines operating out of National and Dulles. Almost 45 percent of flight delays were a result of weather, up from 42 percent the year before, according to the Transportation Department.
But airline labor groups also blame layoffs, which have led to staffing constraints, in the face of increasing traffic. Airlines also point fingers at the Federal Aviation Administration for not upgrading satellite navigation systems to improve air traffic control.
Most arrival delays at the three Washington area airports have been the result of a domino effect from the flights' airports of origin, said Doug Abbey, a partner at the Velocity Group, an aviation consulting firm in Washington.
Abbey warned that the situation would not improve soon.
"The analogy is the bridge in Minnesota," Abbey said. "When you don't deal with infrastructure, it collapses." Many major hub airports, for example, are constrained by limited gates and runways available to handle the growing traffic.
Travelers who flew out of the three airports in the New York metropolitan area have suffered the worst this summer, according to the data. Just over half the flights at John F. Kennedy International, La Guardia and Newark Liberty International airports arrived on time.
In addition, the Transportation Department said airlines are losing more luggage and passengers are lodging more complaints. In the first half of the year, incidents of mishandled baggage increased to 7.34 reports per thousand passengers, up from 5.86 a year ago. Customer complaints rose 47.2 percent.
For Mary Bargerstock, 52, of Reston, reports of the dismal performance of the airlines rang true to her experience of flying to Dulles last Tuesday from Salt Lake City.
Her flight was canceled an hour before takeoff, after she had checked in, because it had no flight crew. The airline did not pay for her stay at a hotel and then lost her baggage.
"This has been the trip from hell," she said.
