Delta, Hartsfield-Jackson, Among Worst for On-Time Flight Arrivals

ATLANTA, Ga. -- The latest numbers are in, and it's confirmed:

Flights into Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, on average, had the worst on-time arrival record in the country in September, and one of the worst for the first nine months of this year.  

But the national average of all U.S. airports actually increased in September to the best on-time arrival percentage since 2003.

 According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 74.6 percent of flights into Hartsfield-Jackson Airport arrived on time in September -- defined as within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time. That put Atlanta 31st worst out of 31 U.S. airports.

The national average of all airports in September: 86.2 percent of flights arrived at their destination airports on time, the fourth best since 1995.  (The airlines also flew, in September, the fewest numbers of flights since 2002).

From January through September, 72.4 percent of flights arrived in Atlanta on time. Only New York City's three airports (JFK, LaGuardia and Newark) had worse on-time arrival rates during the first nine months of this year.

A spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson declined to comment except to say -- ask the airlines.

A spokesman for Atlanta's biggest, Delta Air Lines, blamed the weather -- September's bad weather in Atlanta -- for those late arrivals.

In fact, Delta's on-time arrival percentage at all of its destination airports across the country consistently ranks in the mid-70s (see the table here, scroll down to page 5), which puts Delta in the bottom half of all 19 airlines listed. And Delta's September percentage was actually its highest in the past 12 months: 82.2 percent of Delta's flights in September arrived on time at all of its destination airports, but that was still one of the three worst of all 19 airlines.  (See below).

"It's very frustrating," said Cliff Jenkins of Atlanta, who was at the airport Monday night. "It's very frustrating because you have places to go, things to do, and... you have someone always waiting for you on the other end wherever you're going, so when you're late, they're late."

"You know, it's all relative, I guess," said a passenger arriving in Atlanta, Brian Eilertson. His perspective: better than seven in ten of all airlines' flights arrive in Atlanta on time.

"Those 30 to 40 minute waits, I haven't had many of those here at all, not at all. For the most part, Atlanta's been quite quick for me."

The U.S. airport with the best on-time arrival record in September was Portland, Oregon, where 91 percent of the flights arrived on time.

 As for the airlines, here are the rankings:

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September 2009

Airline On-Time Arrival Pct

Carrier On-Time Arrival Pct.
1 Hawaiian 94.11
2 Alaska 89.97
3 Southwest 89.08
4 Frontier 89.05
5 JetBlue 88.65
6 Continental 88.39
7 US Airways 87.89
8 United 87.87
9 SkyWest 87.47
10 ExpressJet 87.30
11 Mesa 86.98
12 Pinnacle 86.63
13 American 85.97
14 American Eagle 84.80
15 Northwest 84.54
16 AirTran 83.44
17 Delta 82.16
18 Comair 80.46
19 Atlantic Southeast 72.16
     All Airlines 86.17 

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Jan-Sept 2009

Airline On-Time Arrival Pct

Carrier On-Time Arrival Pct.
1 Hawaiian 92.32
2 Southwest 83.67
3 SkyWest 83.23
4 Pinnacle 83.00
5 Alaska 81.94
6 US Airways 80.60
7 United 80.15
8 ExpressJet 79.87
9 Northwest 79.47
10 Continental 79.28
11 Mesa 79.12
12 Frontier 79.07
13 American Eagle 77.91
14 Delta 77.75
15 JetBlue 76.91
16 American 76.69
17 AirTran 76.37
18 Atlantic Southeast 70.00
19 Comair 67.54
     All Airlines 79.59

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics