Airlines' on-time performance soars WASHINGTON (AP) ? Despite snowstorms that hit the East and Midwest during the first three months of the year, airlines posted their second-best on-time performance since 1995, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported Monday. Bureau spokesman David Smallen said the airlines were prompter than in any first quarter except 2002, the best year since the bureau began compiling the statistic nine years ago. During the first three months of this year, 78.5% of flights arrived on time, 1.7% fewer than on-time arrivals during the corresponding period in 2002. Late departures rose less than 1%, to 15.5%. Smallen attributed the overall performance to a decline in air traffic and improvements in the operations of the air traffic control system. Flight cancellations jumped 70% during the period, to 2.34% of scheduled flights from 1.38%. Discount carrier JetBlue, one of the few airlines to report a profitable first quarter, canceled only 12 flights between January and March, or 0.2% of its operations. That's one-fourth the rate of Continental, the airline with the next best cancellation record. "That's remarkable," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association. "It may be a function of their brand-new airplanes." There also were 9% more complaints about mishandled baggage during the first three months of 2003, the first quarter the government employees screened all checked luggage for explosives. Complaints rose 9% to 4.76 reports per 100,000 passengers, from 4.36 per 100,000. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx 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.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************