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The month of July appeared to be a good one for American fliers as far as punctuality is concerned. The Air Travel Consumer Report unveiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation for July suggests that most U.S. carriers were more punctual in reaching their destinations in July 2015 compared to the preceding month. However, the findings also suggest that despite the improved on-time performance, fliers were far from happy as the number of complaints also increased during the month.

Punctuality Statistics

According to the report, 78.1% flights operated by U.S. carriers touched down on time in July 2015. This represents a marked improvement from the comparable figures of 74.8% and 75.6% recorded in June 2015 and July 2014, respectively.

Hawaiian Airlines, which is owned by Hawaiian Holdings Inc. HA, secured the top spot with 88.6% of its flights arriving on time during July. Alaska Airlines, the subsidiary of Alaska Air Group ALK, Delta Air Lines DAL and American Airlines Group AAL occupied the next three positions, recording on-time arrival rates of 86.4%, 84.2% and 80%, respectively.  

We note that the top three spots with respect to on-time arrival rate were occupied by the same three carriers last month as well. Low-cost carrier, Virgin America VA, which occupied the fourth spot in Jun 2015 with 80.5% of its flights arriving on time, slipped down the ladder to the eighth position in July. A total of thirteen carriers were considered in the report.

Disappointing Performers

Florida-based low-cost carrier, Spirit Airlines SAVE, emerged as the least punctual U.S. airline, according to the report, with only 68.7% of its flights arriving on time during the month.

Frontier Airlines was second from below recording an on-time arrival rate of 71.4%. Southwest Airlines LUV and United Airlines, which is owned by United Continental Holdings UAL, accompanied each other on the third-lowest spot, recording on-time arrival rates of 73.5% each.

The Silver Lining

Although laggards in the month of July compared to their punctual peers, each of the four bottom-placed carriers bettered its performance sequentially. The on-time arrival rates of Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines during June 2015 were 49.9%, 67.6%, 66.3% and 72.5%, respectively.

Cancellations Down but Complaints Rise

The picture was rosy with respect to cancellation rates as well, with the rate of cancelled scheduled domestic flights falling to 0.9% in July 2015, the lowest July figure recorded in 21 years. The comparable figure was 1.8% in June 2015 and 1.6% in July 2014. Airline behemoth, Delta Air Lines, emerged the topper with respect to this metric with only 0.1% of its flights being cancelled in July 2015. Moreover, the report stated that during the month, none of the domestic or international flights had tarmac delays exceeding the permitted duration of three hours and four hours, respectively.

However, what was strange was the significant increase in the number of consumer complaints about airline service filed with the government in the month. In Jul 2015, 2,163 complaints were filed, which represents a 5.4% increase over the preceding month.