Flights delays and cancellations: Up. But should the weather be blamed?
The US’s largest airlines had a higher rate of flight delays and cancellations in January of this year than the prior month or a year ago, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report.
Nineteen carriers reported on-time performance of 71.4%, according to the report issued by the US Department of Transportation (DOT).
That figure, however, was down from 74.9% a year ago.
Carriers cancelled 4.2% of scheduled flights in January, up from the previous year’s 3%.
What caused the delays?
Major reasons included aviation system delays, late-arriving aircraft, and factors beyond the airline’s control such as maintenance or crew problems.
The assumption might be that in January, weather would be an important factor.
But the report said the percentage of overall flights delayed by weather was just over 6% in January, which trailed other problems.
In other bad news for the airlines, mishandled baggage is also getting worse, with a rate of almost 8% in January compared to last year’s almost 6%.
Report by David Wilkening
