THE NUMBERS ARE IN

The nation’s largest airlines recorded a higher rate of on-time flights and a lower rate of cancellations this past August than in either the previous month or August of last year, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the 20 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 75.8 percent in August, an improvement over both August 2005’s 75.2 percent and July 2006’s 73.7 percent. The carriers also canceled 1.6 percent of their scheduled domestic flights in August, a lower rate than both the 2.1 percent recorded in August 2005 and the 1.7 rate of July 2006.

The monthly report also includes data on the causes of flight delays, as well as reports of mishandled baggage filed with the carriers, and consumer service, disability and discrimination complaints received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division. This report also includes reports required to be filed by U.S. carriers of incidents involving pets traveling by air.

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