Alaska on-time performance worst in U.S. in '05

[Paul]

Last year -- especially last summer -- was probably one that Alaska Airlines would like to forget. The airline ranked No. 19, the last of all U.S. airlines, in on-time performance for 2005, according to government statistics.

For the entire year, Alaska Airlines, a unit of Seattle-based Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) reported that 69.7 percent of its flights were on time, which was the worst of the 19 airlines tracked for the entire year by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report. Hawaiian Airlines was No. 1, with 95.1 percent of its flights reporting on-time in 2005.

In 2004, Alaska ranked No. 14 with a 76.5 percent on-time performance.

A summer of full flights, crowded airports and an expanded summer schedule led to the airline's poor performance in 2005. In June, for example, more than half of the airline's flights were late. But the airline's performance is improving.

Puget Sound Business Journal

 

[lpbrian]

A totally meaningless statistic. Sure, AS is going to be near the bottom, LOOK WERE THEY FLY TO. Sure HA is going to be at the top; it's hard not to be on time flying between Honolulu and Maui. All you LCC fans and especially WN fans: on time performance means NOTHING!

 

[mga707]

A totally meaningless statistic. Sure, AS is going to be near the bottom, LOOK WERE THEY FLY TO. Sure HA is going to be at the top; it's hard not to be on time flying between Honolulu and Maui. All you LCC fans and especially WN fans: on time performance means NOTHING!

I believe that WN fully understands that as they expand into delay-prone airports like PHL that their on-time percentage will suffer, and that they accept as inevitable that their days of battling HP as the on-time champ among majors is over (HP/US accepts this too).
As long as they can maintain their current 80% performance they're probably quite satisfied.

 

[coolflyingfool]

AS says the cutting/suspending of SEA-IAD will help in the OT performance. I don't see how eliminating 2 flights can help that greatly except for the fact that each flight ran 5 hours + and now that plane will just sit as a spare i guess. Interesting move for AS IMO. just my thoughts......

 

[jimntx]

Hawaiian Airlines was No. 1, with 95.1 percent of its flights reporting on-time in 2005.

It's hardly fair for the government to include Hawaiian in the listings. Other than their West Coast to Hawaii flights, they operate in an environment where a truly bad weather day involves there being two clouds in the sky over the beach.

 

[LCC_#1]

All you LCC fans and especially WN fans: on time performance means NOTHING!

Where the hell did THAT come from? Nobody that I know of at LCC has EVER made any comments regarding AS and OTP. If anything, we know what it's like to deal with tough situations regarding the challenges of certain areas of the US.

While I do not pretend to understand the difficulties associated with AS destinations, I would like to be educated instead of attacked as a company.

I am no fan of the record keeping myself. There is too much pressure on carriers and it IS an uneven playing field as some airlines have acars and some do not.

But all airlines have their difficult regions. Because of their close proximity, what effects JFK will effect LGA, EWR, PHL, DCA, IAD, BOS, BDL, and hundreds of smaller airports. In the summer, we have afternoon thunderstorms almost on a daily basis and lest we not forget about hurricane season and our big presence in the Gulf states and our HUGE presence in the Carribean and Mexico. And that's JUST US Airways.

All the other carriers have their hot spots as well, so please don't act like the entire industry is gunning for you. We at US Airways play by the same rules as you guys at Alaska. We close the door at departure time and the acars takes note, and the same is done once and only once the door is opened. If you guys aren't performing well, leave US Airways (LCC) out of it. Do better padding your flights or get some new managers.