Despite all the recent bad stories about air travel travails, if your only criterion is getting there on time, there’s good news. And that’s not the only reason air travel may even be better than ever.
Airplanes these days are running in a timely fashion.
For the first quarter of the year, with 15 carriers reporting, planes reached their destination on time almost 84% of the time. That’s better than they have done in two decades, according to US Transportaion Deparetment records.
"Even when you consider that the government reckons a flight to be ‘on time’ if it arrives as much as 14 minutes late, that’s pretty nifty flying," suggests travel commentator Joe Brancatelli.
His conclusion: Virtually all airlines are doing the basics better than they have been doing for years.
But that’s not the end of the good news: figures show
—Airlines are losing fewer bags
—They are canceling fewer flights
—And they are bumping fewer passengers
—As for those dreaded long tarmac holds, so well publicized in the past, they have virtually disappeared.
The very mild winter is generally seen as one major reason.
But there’s also the fact that flights have shrunk dramatically as well.
Will the trends continue into the busy summer travel season?
So far at least, there seems to be no reason why not.
By David Wilkening
