Some regional carriers are doing better keeping their flights on time than industry behemoths such as American Airlines Group Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co., according to a first peek at new data compiled by federal regulators.
A U.S. Department of Transportation report released Tuesday is the first to include details on regional carriers, a huge part of the airline industry that was absent from the department’s performance surveys for several decades. This year, more than half of domestic flights were on regional airlines or “branded codeshare partners” as DOT terms them, carrying about one quarter of U.S. air travelers.
