June The Worst Month Of Delays For US Airlines

US airlines turned in their worst on-time performance since December last year, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday.

The airlines had an on-time arrival rate of 76.1% compared with 80.5% at the same time last year.  The on-time performance was 65.3%.

The most common causes of flight delays are air congestion, inclement weather and equipment problems.

June was a bad month for weather as the National Weather Service recorded more than 6,400 incidents of severe weather, such as hail and high winds, almost twice as much as May.

The airline which had the best on-time performance was Hawaiian Airlines, while Com Air had the worst.

Delays had eased off over recent months as carriers reduced flights and flew smaller aircraft due to the downturn of the travel industry.

Flights that arrive within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time are considered on-time and cancelled and diverted flights are considered late.

The number of complaints regarding mishandled baggage dropped by 20% in June from a year ago, but there were more complaints in June than in May.   American Eagle had the most complaints.

The DOT said that complaints were down from a year ago and that most passengers complained about cancellations, delays and missed connections.

Quotes thanks to AP.