Flight times have been extended on some trips to account for air traffic delays. If either falls behind schedule, extra workers are deployed to ensure an on-time departure. New tools track the boarding of passengers and loading of baggage onto individual flights. Airlines are flying newer planes with fewer maintenance problems. The airlines also are taking steps to improve their on-time performance. Last year, the number was down 10 percent to 13.3 million. In 2007, 14.8 million airplanes took off and landed at the nation’s 35 largest airports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The recession led fewer people to fly and prompted airlines to ground planes, clearing up airspace. And Minneapolis has had 12 inches, one-third the normal snowfall at this point in the year. Chicago, which averages 27 inches of snow from January through June, has had just 18. New York has had about 3 inches this year, compared with a 10-year average of 20 inches. There have been 10 percent fewer thunderstorms than usual, according to a decade of data analyzed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aviation Weather Center. In the first six months of this year, nature has been kind to airlines. airlines made a combined $577 million in profit last year. Last year, domestic delays cost airlines an estimated $5.2 billion. The industry says it costs an average of $75 a minute to operate a plane. When flights are on time, it isn’t just good for passengers - it also helps the airlines’ bottom lines. “That’s an indictment, not a record,” he said. About one out of every six flights is late - and that’s after airlines have adjusted schedules to account for congestion, said airline consultant Michael Boyd. The worst year for baggage handling was 1989, when nearly eight suitcases per 1,000 passengers were reported late, lost or damaged. The worst full year was 2000, when just 73 percent of flights arrived on time, according to an Associated Press analysis of Bureau of Transportation Statistics data. If the current pace continues, the airlines will beat their best full-year performance, recorded in 1991, when nearly 83 percent of flights arrived on time. “In the past six months, I’ve only had two delays.” “My flights this year have been way better,” said Amanda Schuier, a sales manager for a Kansas City, Mo., trucking supplier who flies roughly four times a week. The two areas of improvement are related: When flights are late, bags often miss their connection. SFO has improved from the first six months of 2011, however, when its on-time performance was 69.83 percent, which was good enough for 27th in the mid-year 2011 ranking. performed worse, with a 70.61 percent on-time performance. San Francisco International Airport is still struggling, however: The Bay Area’s largest airport ranked 28th out of 29 large airports studied by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, with an on-time performance of 73.35 percent. The improvement over the first six months of 2011, when 77 percent of flights were on time, is mostly the result of good weather and fewer planes in the sky because of weak demand. Nearly 84 percent of domestic flights arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time in the first half of the year - the best performance since the government started keeping track in 1988. Travelers still have to put up with packed planes, rising fees and unpredictable security lines, but they are late to fewer business meetings and are not missing as many chances to tuck their kids into bed. airlines are more punctual and less likely to lose your bag than at any time in more than two decades.
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