Last month the United States Department of Transportation released new statistics showing that 78 percent of flights on major U.S. airlines arrived on time during June. This represents an improvement from June 2015, when the on-time rate was 74.8 percent, but is lower than May 2016’s 83 percent. The Department counts a flight as on time if it lands within 14 minutes of its scheduled arrival.
Passenger complaints decreased year over year as well: 1,492 complaints were filed in June of this year compared with 2,048 in June of last year. However, complaints rose compared with May of this year, when 1,134 were filed. Common causes of delays included late-arriving aircraft, air traffic system issues, maintenance or crew problems, and extreme weather.
The Transportation Department also published a ranking of major carriers by on-time performance for June 2016. The list highlights carriers with the highest punctuality rates for the month.
- Hawaiian Airlines — 91.1 percent
- Alaska Airlines — 86.4 percent
- SkyWest — 84.6 percent
- Delta Air Lines — 83.4 percent
- United Airlines — 79.2 percent
- Express Jet — 78.1 percent
- Frontier Airlines — 75.6 percent
- JetBlue — 74.4 percent
- Southwest Airlines — 74.3 percent
- Spirit Airlines — 73.0 percent
- Virgin America — 72.6 percent
- American Airlines — 72.4 percent
The data provides a snapshot of punctuality across carriers and highlights areas where operators and the broader aviation system can focus improvements—especially in reducing delays caused by operational and weather-related issues. Tracking these trends month to month helps travelers set expectations and allows airlines and regulators to measure progress in reliability and customer service.