Excerpt from World Airline news Airlines were also accused of manipulating statistical information for their own benefit. Top of the hit list is on-time departures. "There is a 15 minute window for airlines to claim on-time departure. However, there is a problem. This does not account for time spent between the gate and takeoff ? time on the runway. The amount of time aircraft are spending waiting to takeoff are increasing. How can you tell passengers that they are leaving on-time when they spend three hours waiting to take off?" http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0ZCK/26_10/63137236/p1/article.jhtml?ter m=