American Eagle Has Worst On-Time Performance

June 17, 2013
Airline also had the highest cancellation rate and the worst mishandled-baggage rate.

June 13--Bad weather in the Midwest and a network computer outage left American Eagle with the worst on-time performance among the nation's air carriers in April.

The regional carrier, owned by AMR Corp., had only about two-thirds of its flights arrive on time, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

American Eagle also had the highest cancellation rate -- 5.3 percent of its scheduled flights in April -- and the worst mishandled-baggage rate -- 6.79 reports per 1,000 passengers.

On April 16, American Eagle and American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights and delayed hundreds more as its reservation, ticket-booking and check-in computer systems went down for most of the day. Severe weather at hub airports in Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth also hurt operations.

All the airlines experienced a decline in on-time performance in April, with 77.3 percent of flights arriving on time, down from 86.3 percent in April 2012.

Hawaiian Airlines remained in the top spot, with 93 percent of flights arriving on time. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines posted a 78.4 percent rate, for ninth place, while American Airlines had 72.3 percent, for 12th place.

The carriers also lost more luggage in April, reporting a mishandled-baggage rate of 3.08 reports per 1,000 passengers, up from 2.63 the previous year. The Transportation Department also received 1.8 percent more complaints from passengers.

Two flights had tarmac delays exceeding three hours in April: a Delta Air Lines flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Orlando, Fla., delayed for 183 minutes on April 19, and a United Airlines flight from Pittsburgh to Denver on April 8, delayed for 182 minutes.

DFW Airport reported a 73.8 percent on-time arrival rate and a 70.5 percent on-time departure rate. Dallas Love Field's rates were 80.6 percent and 77.1 percent.

Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631 Twitter: @Sky_Talk

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