Jan. 13--Southwest Airlines shot up the leaderboard for on-time rates in November, continuing a trend for the carrier and its largest airport for departures, Chicago's Midway Airport, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Meanwhile, United and American posted on-time rates at or near the industry average. But the local airport they use as a hub, O'Hare International Airport, again ranked last for on-time departures among 29 large airports, DOT numbers show.
Dallas-based Southwest ranked No. 5 of 12 U.S. airlines that report to the Transportation Department, with an on-time rate of 81.4 percent. For Southwest, it's the airline's best on-time rate in 20 months and its highest rank in more than a year.
Ranking fifth, solidly in the middle of the pack, is a far cry from where Southwest has placed recently. It was at or near the bottom of U.S. airlines for on-time rates since August 2013, when it added flights to its daily schedule. The change squeezed the time between a plane's arrival and its next departure, leading to delays that cascaded through the carrier's system.
But in August, Southwest added time that it allots for flying, taxiing, loading and unloading passengers, and preparing the aircraft for the next flight. Its on-time rates began to improve.
Midway, where Southwest dominates and has more departures than any other airport, is benefiting. Midway in November posted an on-time rate of 79 percent -- still below average for the largest 29 airports but at least not at or near the bottom as it has many months over the past year.
The only large carrier ranking higher than Southwest was Delta Air Lines, which has had relatively stellar on-time rates in recent years. As usual, Hawaiian Airlines, which deals with less foul weather than other carriers, ranked first, with an 89.4 percent on-time rate; that is, unless you count the now-defunct AirTran Airways, which merged with Southwest and flew its last flight as a separate carrier at the end of 2014. In November, it posted an on-time rate of 90.4 percent.
Chicago-based United Airlines posted an on-time arrival rate of 80.6 percent in November, matching the industry average but ranking eighth of 12 airlines. American Airlines was close behind at 80.3 percent, according to the DOT.
O'Hare departures were on-time 72.4 percent of the time, worst among large airports and far below the average of 81.3 percent.
gkarp@tribpub.com
Twitter @spendingsmart
