Fewer flights help punctuality From staff reports Airline losses worsened last year, but in one important area, the nation's 10 biggest airlines excelled. Punctuality improved as airports and skies grew less crowded. The percentage of late flights operated by major airlines fell to 17.9% for 2002, continuing a decline from a rate that exceeded 25% in 2000. Canceled trips accounted for 1.2% of total flights, another dip from 2001 and the 2000, according to the figures, from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Despite new security rules that created bottlenecks in airports, airlines did a better job boarding passengers early and delivering them to their destinations near the scheduled time. Many major airports showed dramatic improvements in the percentage of late arrivals compared with 2001. Their progress made some airports that were unchanged look bad in comparison. Atlanta moved from 17th place in 2001 to the top spot for delays last year, with 22.1% of its flights arriving late. San Francisco was next with the greatest proportion of late flights for 2002, at 21.6%, followed by Fort Lauderdale with 21%. Of the 10 largest airlines, United was the most punctual, with only 16% of flights arriving late, followed by American with 16.2% and Continental with 16.5%. The least punctual was Alaska Airlines, with 22% of flights arriving late in 2002. American Eagle is the second least-punctual, with 20.9% of flights arriving late. American Eagle had the greatest proportion of canceled flights, 2.9%. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.boogsie.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************