Airlines avoid three-hour flight delays, increase on-time performance

U.S. airlines did not have any delays longer than three hours on domestic flights for the month of August, according to statistics released Thursday by the Department of Transportation.

The DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report showed that the only delay on a runway  that violated rules implemented in 2010 by the Obama administration as part of a “Passenger’s Bill of Rights” in August, which was the most recent month quantified, was a delay of four hours 28 minutes on a Caribbean Airlines flight from New York to Trinidad and Tobago.

The rules against runway delays prohibit delays longer than four hours on international flights, compared to the three-hour rule for domestic routes. 

The DOT said it was investigating the Caribbean Airlines delay. Since the new rules took effect, airlines can be fined $27,500 for each passenger who is stranded on a plane.

The department's consumer report showed that airlines' on-time arrivals from January to August was the highest it had been in 18 years. Airlines had an 82.06 percent on-time rating from January to August, compared to a previous high of 81.92 for the same period in 2003.

The full DOT airline report can be read here. 

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