NPR: Airlines Still Running Late ... But Planes Crashing Less

Airlines Still Running Late ... But Planes Crashing Less

Got a flight tonight? Be prepared to wait. The latest government data shows that the airlines' dismal performance has continued, with nearly 30 percent of flights in August delayed. The news comes less than a week after President Bush said he would help fix the problem. As The Associated Press reports:

The nation's 20 largest carriers reported an on-time arrival rate of 71.7 percent in August, down from 75.8 percent a year ago, the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Wednesday. The on-time rate was 69.8 percent in July and 68.1 percent in June.
Through August, more than 25 percent of flights have arrived late — the industry's worst on-time performance since comparable data began being collected in 1995.

And people are mad as hell about it. The number of complaints almost doubled to 1,634 in August compared with 864 in the same month last year.

But here's the silver lining in air travel: Since 1997, The New York Times reports, the domestic rate of fatal plane crashes has dropped 65 percent. That means about one fatal accident in about 4.5 million departures, down from one in nearly 2 million 10 years ago. (The government's stated goal for the airlines back in 1997 was to cut the rate by 80 percent.)

Do you think the government's influence can spur a similar cut in delays?

4:06 PM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
May we contact you with information about NPR programming and services? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

Tom Regan

Blogger

About Us

This year's election cycle has been one of the most exciting in memory. At the NPR News Blog we'll do our best to bring you interesting, informative -- and controversial -- stories from our own reporters and bloggers, as well as the rest of the best of the Internet and blogosphere. And we hope you'll let us know what you think as well.

Want to learn more? Be sure to read our Frequently Asked Questions and our discussion guidelines.