Airlines boost on-time performance, cancel fewer flights

The government says more flights are arriving on time, airlines are canceling fewer flights, but passengers' complaints are still rising.


The Department of Transportation said Wednesday that 83.6 percent of flights on the leading airlines arrived on time in February. That's up from 81.3 percent in January and 72.8 percent the previous February.

Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines were most likely to be on time. Spirit and JetBlue were late most often.

The leading 12 airlines canceled 1.6 percent of their February flights, down from 2.6 percent in January and 4.8 percent last February.

Complaints against U.S. airlines, however, ticked up to 1,113 from 1,039 a year earlier. That's still a tiny fraction of the more than 50 million passengers who flew during February.