St Louis Post Dispatch: Airline on-time rates are about to drop
Oct 23, 2016, 12:03 pm
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St Louis Post Dispatch: Airline on-time rates are about to drop
In recent years, big U.S. airlines have touted their operational improvements to curb delays and make flight schedules more reliable.
Yet this crowing comes with a big caveat: Most of the monthly stats the large carriers report don’t include their regional operations, mostly smaller, 50- to 90-seat jets that funnel travelers to and from hubs. Regional flying now constitutes almost half of U.S. domestic air routes — and when bad weather strikes, those flights are often the first to be canceled.
Starting next year, the U.S. Department of Transportation is closing that gaping hole by requiring performance information on flights operated by a half-dozen regional airlines.
Yet this crowing comes with a big caveat: Most of the monthly stats the large carriers report don’t include their regional operations, mostly smaller, 50- to 90-seat jets that funnel travelers to and from hubs. Regional flying now constitutes almost half of U.S. domestic air routes — and when bad weather strikes, those flights are often the first to be canceled.
Starting next year, the U.S. Department of Transportation is closing that gaping hole by requiring performance information on flights operated by a half-dozen regional airlines.
