BeantownDisneyFan
Mar 20, 06, 9:14 am
JetBlue ranks 1st, Northwest last in Logan on-time rate
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | March 20, 2006
JetBlue Airways posted the best on-time arrival performance at Boston's Logan International Airport in both of the last two years, with flights landing on schedule 10 percent more often than the airportwide average, US Transportation Department data show.
Northwest Airlines, meanwhile, ranked last for on-time arrivals at Logan last year, with 41.3 percent of its flights landing late.
Of the six biggest airlines by passenger volume, Continental Airlines had the worst overall arrival and departure record. A key factor is that more than half of Continental's jet service at Logan goes to its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, which is consistently one of the nation's worst airports for delays.
The Transportation Department deems arrivals and departures ''on time" if they are within 15 minutes of schedule.
The majority of flight delays are caused by factors beyond individual airlines' control, said Thomas J. Kinton Jr., aviation director for the Massachusetts Port Authority.
''A lot of this is air-traffic-control issues and weather," Kinton said in an interview. ''We're located in some of the most congested airspace in the country. It's not necessarily the airline's fault."
But Joe Kolshak, chief of operations for Delta Air Lines, said it is wrong to blame weather and air traffic. ''I don't allow people to use those as an excuse," Kolshak said. ''We do still have a tremendous amount of control over getting people to their destinations on schedule."
Compared with the airportwide average, Delta, the second-biggest carrier at Logan by passenger volume after American Airlines, was about 4 percentage points better than the airport average for timely takeoffs and 2.5 percentage points better for arrivals. American, US Airways, United, and AirTran were all within 1 or 2 percentage points of the average for both takeoffs and arrivals.
Overall, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, few airlines are doing dramatically better or worse than the overall Logan average. Last year, 21.4 percent of flights left Logan late, and Logan ranked 13th worst of 33 big US airports for delays. On the other end, 27.5 percent of flights headed to Logan landed late, and the airport ranked seventh worst for delayed arrivals nationally.
Alaska Airlines posted the worst on-time departure record of any airline at Logan last year, with flights leaving late 49.5 percent of the time. But Alaska operates just a single daily flight into Boston, a round-trip from Seattle that is scheduled to turn around and leave roughly 50 minutes after it lands, during the super-busy 5-to-6 p.m. time slot ''when there is a greater likelihood of air-traffic-control delays," Alaska spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said.
Over the last five years, Delta has taken several steps to cut the so-called turn time that it takes for a plane that has arrived to take off again, down to an average of 33 minutes from 50 minutes, Kolshak said. New procedures such as having flight attendants collect trash during the final descent, and boarding first-class passengers while cleaning crews are finishing up the coach cabin, have helped shave minutes.
Delta has also outfitted about one-third of its planes with a system that can advise pilots to increase or decrease flight speed by a few miles per hour, which as part of the complex choreography of air traffic control helps ensure planes approach Logan or other airports in a minute when there is space for them to land, reducing delays, Kolshak said.
JetBlue flights arrived at Logan on time 79.7 percent of the time last year, down from 89.4 percent in 2004. For departures, JetBlue had an 81.4 percent on-time record, the fifth best of airlines serving Logan.
Industry officials expect JetBlue to have trouble matching that performance at Logan this year. In November, JetBlue, which previously flew mainly to California and Florida from Boston, began offering nine daily flights to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which usually ranks with Newark for delays. In January it added six daily flights to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Those moves will leave JetBlue more vulnerable to northeastern air-traffic congestion.
JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said the airline's ''Boston team continues to focus on providing customers with reliable and sincere service, although the environment is more challenging today than in prior years. As we add new service from Boston and other cities, we find that our processes need fine-tuning as we grow," including new efforts to cut down time that airplanes spend at Logan between flights.
Northwest declined requests for comment. Continental spokeswoman Julie King said that with 15 of 26 daily Continental departures headed to Newark, ''we operate in the most congested region in the country, and a large chunk of our delays are attributable to air-traffic-control issues." King said for factors under its control, Continental has one of the industry's best records for flying on time and not canceling flights.
Kinton, the Massport aviation director, said that to the extent travelers can choose which airlines they use and when, his best advice is to look at the calendar and see if the flight requires a connection and where.
To avoid antagonizing Logan tenants, Kinton would not name any carriers by name, but said, ''When I fly, I go nonstop whenever I can, and I avoid certain hubs during certain times of the year. ''Avoid the snowbound airports in the winter, and the thunderstorm-prone airports in the spring and summer."
Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. READ ON-TIME DEPARTURE RANKINGS BY AIRLINE
From Logan for the last three years at boston.com/business
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | March 20, 2006
JetBlue Airways posted the best on-time arrival performance at Boston's Logan International Airport in both of the last two years, with flights landing on schedule 10 percent more often than the airportwide average, US Transportation Department data show.
Northwest Airlines, meanwhile, ranked last for on-time arrivals at Logan last year, with 41.3 percent of its flights landing late.
Of the six biggest airlines by passenger volume, Continental Airlines had the worst overall arrival and departure record. A key factor is that more than half of Continental's jet service at Logan goes to its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, which is consistently one of the nation's worst airports for delays.
The Transportation Department deems arrivals and departures ''on time" if they are within 15 minutes of schedule.
The majority of flight delays are caused by factors beyond individual airlines' control, said Thomas J. Kinton Jr., aviation director for the Massachusetts Port Authority.
''A lot of this is air-traffic-control issues and weather," Kinton said in an interview. ''We're located in some of the most congested airspace in the country. It's not necessarily the airline's fault."
But Joe Kolshak, chief of operations for Delta Air Lines, said it is wrong to blame weather and air traffic. ''I don't allow people to use those as an excuse," Kolshak said. ''We do still have a tremendous amount of control over getting people to their destinations on schedule."
Compared with the airportwide average, Delta, the second-biggest carrier at Logan by passenger volume after American Airlines, was about 4 percentage points better than the airport average for timely takeoffs and 2.5 percentage points better for arrivals. American, US Airways, United, and AirTran were all within 1 or 2 percentage points of the average for both takeoffs and arrivals.
Overall, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, few airlines are doing dramatically better or worse than the overall Logan average. Last year, 21.4 percent of flights left Logan late, and Logan ranked 13th worst of 33 big US airports for delays. On the other end, 27.5 percent of flights headed to Logan landed late, and the airport ranked seventh worst for delayed arrivals nationally.
Alaska Airlines posted the worst on-time departure record of any airline at Logan last year, with flights leaving late 49.5 percent of the time. But Alaska operates just a single daily flight into Boston, a round-trip from Seattle that is scheduled to turn around and leave roughly 50 minutes after it lands, during the super-busy 5-to-6 p.m. time slot ''when there is a greater likelihood of air-traffic-control delays," Alaska spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said.
Over the last five years, Delta has taken several steps to cut the so-called turn time that it takes for a plane that has arrived to take off again, down to an average of 33 minutes from 50 minutes, Kolshak said. New procedures such as having flight attendants collect trash during the final descent, and boarding first-class passengers while cleaning crews are finishing up the coach cabin, have helped shave minutes.
Delta has also outfitted about one-third of its planes with a system that can advise pilots to increase or decrease flight speed by a few miles per hour, which as part of the complex choreography of air traffic control helps ensure planes approach Logan or other airports in a minute when there is space for them to land, reducing delays, Kolshak said.
JetBlue flights arrived at Logan on time 79.7 percent of the time last year, down from 89.4 percent in 2004. For departures, JetBlue had an 81.4 percent on-time record, the fifth best of airlines serving Logan.
Industry officials expect JetBlue to have trouble matching that performance at Logan this year. In November, JetBlue, which previously flew mainly to California and Florida from Boston, began offering nine daily flights to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which usually ranks with Newark for delays. In January it added six daily flights to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Those moves will leave JetBlue more vulnerable to northeastern air-traffic congestion.
JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said the airline's ''Boston team continues to focus on providing customers with reliable and sincere service, although the environment is more challenging today than in prior years. As we add new service from Boston and other cities, we find that our processes need fine-tuning as we grow," including new efforts to cut down time that airplanes spend at Logan between flights.
Northwest declined requests for comment. Continental spokeswoman Julie King said that with 15 of 26 daily Continental departures headed to Newark, ''we operate in the most congested region in the country, and a large chunk of our delays are attributable to air-traffic-control issues." King said for factors under its control, Continental has one of the industry's best records for flying on time and not canceling flights.
Kinton, the Massport aviation director, said that to the extent travelers can choose which airlines they use and when, his best advice is to look at the calendar and see if the flight requires a connection and where.
To avoid antagonizing Logan tenants, Kinton would not name any carriers by name, but said, ''When I fly, I go nonstop whenever I can, and I avoid certain hubs during certain times of the year. ''Avoid the snowbound airports in the winter, and the thunderstorm-prone airports in the spring and summer."
Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. READ ON-TIME DEPARTURE RANKINGS BY AIRLINE
From Logan for the last three years at boston.com/business