Despite a seemingly never-ending winter of discontent for air travelers last year, a record low number of tarmac delays was recorded in 2014.
A Department of Transportation report said last year had the fewest number of tarmac delays longer than three hours since DOT’s tarmac rule came into effect after 2009.
The Air Travel Consumer Report said there were 30 domestic flights with delays longer than three hours and nine international flights delayed on the tarmac for longer than four hours at US airports.
This compares with 868 domestic flights held up for over three hours in 2009, prior to rules coming into force which forces airlines to pay $27,500 per passenger for every major tarmac delay.
"These tarmac delay rules are meant to protect passengers and it appears that the airlines have gotten the message," said DOT secretary Anthony Foxx.
"We have aggressively enforced, and will continue to aggressively enforce, our tarmac delay rules to ensure that carriers have adequate resources, such as staff and equipment, to minimize passengers’ exposure to lengthy tarmac delays
The report also highlighted a big jump in complaints by air travelers.
Airline customers made 15,532 complaints, up 17.9% from 13,176 received a year earlier.
