As bad as air travel has been, it may get worse.
Passengers suffered through a record number of flight delays during the first half of 2007, according to new federal data.
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport posted the worst on-time number in the nation for the first six months of the year.
But nearly one-quarter of all US flights arrived late to their destinations, the industry’s worst on-time performance since the Bureau of Transportation Statistics began tracking such data in 1995.
“It’s a nightmare,” aviation analyst Darryl Jenkins told the Chicago Tribune. “We’re stretched. There’s no give in the system if anything goes wrong.”
There was a record number of commercial flights — about 3.7 million — flown from January through June, according to federal government statistics.
“And the outlook for the months ahead is even worse, experts warn,” wrote the Tribune.
In anticipation of a market slowdown, most major carriers are cutting domestic capacity. They are shifting larger planes to more lucrative overseas routes.
Meanwhile, the US carriers are increasingly turning to regional partners to pick up the slack on routes within this country. But since they operate smaller planes, these partners will have to increase flights to keep pace with passenger demand.
“Less domestic capacity doesn’t mean less flights; it often means more flights,” said aviation consultant Robert Mann.
The major reasons for delays: air-traffic control constraints along the busy Atlantic seaboard and over-scheduling at airports already operating at full capacity.
The one bright spot for travel was Southwest Airlines, whose track record for on-time arrivals is the best among leading carriers.
Long flight delays for passengers on the leading US airlines more than tripled in June compared with the previous month, leading to a spike in customer complaints, according to a report from the US Department of Transportation (DOT).
The DOT report also showed an increase in June of flight cancellations, luggage problems, and “bumping” passengers.
The travel woes contributed to a sharp rise in customer complaints, which reached 1094 in June, up 43% from the 763 complaints received by the Department of Transportation in the same month in 2006.
Most complaints have been about delays and cancellations.
Report by David Wilkening
