Airlines' On-time Performance Improves In March

In March, the carriers canceled 2.1 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, a lower rate than the 2.6-percent cancellation rate of March 2008 but higher than the 1.2-percent rate posted in February of this year.

The airlines overall had a mishandled baggage rate of 4.12 reports per 1,000 passengers in March, an improvement over March 2008's rate of 6.66 reports per 1,000 passengers but higher than the rate of 3.56 reports per 1,000 passengers posted in February of this year.

The DOT said that in March it received 705 complaints about airline service from consumers, down 30.3 percent from the 1,011 complaints filed in March 2008 but 22.4 percent more than the total of 576 complaints received in February of this year.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the lowest on-time arrival rate in March, at 60.9 percent. The most frequently delayed flight in the month was Comair flight 6382 from Atlanta to Newark, N.J., which was late 96.3 percent of the time. Comair, a regional carrier, is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Delta, the world's biggest airline operator.

Alaska Airlines, a unit of Seattle-based Alaska Air Group Inc., had the second-lowest on-time arrival rate in March, at 70.2 percent, while ExpressJet Airlines had the third-lowest, at 71.7 percent