On-time rates for airlines best in 6 years

Call this the upside of trimming flight schedules. The on-time rate for US airlines in July was the best it's been in six years.

In fact, on-time rates in the first seven months of the year have been at their highest levels in six years, owing in part to the fact that struggling carriers have been cutting flights to save money amid the recession and falling demand.

This from Bloomberg News:

The 77.6 percent on-time rate for the month compares with 75.7 percent for the same month in 2008 and was the best result for the industry since 79.7 percent in 2003, the department said in a report released in Washington.

Which airline was best? Hawaiian Airlines at 93.6 percent, followed by Alaska Air at 87.2 percent. And the worst? Delta’s Comair unit with 63.6, followed by SkyWest’s Atlantic Southeast unit at 68.3 percent and AirTran at 69.8 percent.

An interesting bit: The most frequently delayed flights were Northwest Airlines 1266 from Boston to Tampa and Northwest flight 1154 from West Palm Beach to Boston, both of which were tardy 96.77 percent of the time.