HONOLULU -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today again confirmed that Hawaiian Airlines is the nation's most punctual airline, with 95.3 percent of its flights arriving as scheduled during October. Hawaiian has held this record every month since it began reporting to DOT a year ago.
“HAL once stood for “Hawaiian's Always Late',” noted the airline's Trustee, Joshua Gotbaum. “Not any more. Everyone at Hawaiian has pulled together to create one of the best airlines in the nation. And, month after month, the DOT reports confirm it. For the past seven months, Hawaiian's been on time 95 percent of the time or better. No other airline's managed that even for a single month.”
Hawaiian achieved this remarkable turnaround by completely reforming its operations. Changes were made in how passengers were boarded and deplaned, how bags were loaded, and how aircraft were cleaned and catered. Noted Gotbaum, “Everyone in Hawaiian's ohana did their part: pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents, mechanics, baggage handlers, dispatchers and management. The results have been phenomenal.”
Gotbaum noted that Hawaiian's interisland operations, with more than 100 daily flights, is especially unforgiving of delays. The short, back-to-back trips connecting Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii's Big Island are scheduled with only 25 minutes on the ground between flights. A single delay can have a “domino effect” and carry over to departures and arrivals for the rest of the day.
The DOT's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report (chart below) for October was released today. A closer look at the on-time results for the past 12 months reveals just how superior Hawaiian's performance has been compared to other airlines. Most significantly, Hawaiian has averaged 93.3 percent on-time arrivals for the past 12 months.
The industry average for the same period is 78.5 percent – a difference of 14.8 percent. Following Hawaiian, the next closest airline nationally is JetBlue Airways at 83.1 percent, while the next closest airline serving Hawaii is ATA Airlines at 79.5 percent.
Since November 2003 Hawaiian has been voluntarily reporting its statistics for on-time performance and other customer service measures to the DOT, joining 18 other airlines nationally including six carriers that serve Hawaii. Hawaiian started out as the nation's #1 on-time carrier and has stayed atop the industry ever since. According to DOT standards, on-time service requires a flight to arrive within 15 minutes of schedule.
The DOT also reported that Hawaiian tied with JetBlue Airways and Continental Airlines for the lowest percentage of cancelled flights in October at 0.1 percent, representing only five cancellations out of 3,856 total flights.
Hawaiian continued to perform well at handling customers' luggage, ranking fourth best among all airlines during October with 2.63 mishandled baggage reports per 1,000 passengers.
The DOT report included five consumer complaints about Hawaiian, all of which were received in previous months. Altogether, Hawaiian served 441,927 passengers in October.
The DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report for October is available online at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/atcr04.htm.
On-Time Performance - October 2004 | ||
Rank | Airline | % Arr w/in 15 min |
1 | Hawaiian Airlines | 95.3 |
2 | Continental Airlines | 87.7 |
3 | JetBlue Airways | 86.8 |
4 | ATA Airlines | 86.6 |
5 | ExpressJet Airlines | 84.2 |
6 | SkyWest Airlines | 84.0 |
7 | United Airlines | 83.9 |
8 | American Airlines | 82.1 |
9 | Northwest Airlines | 81.8 |
10 | AirTran Airways | 81.3 |
11 | US Airways | 80.9 |
12 | Southwest Airlines | 80.0 |
13 | Delta Air Lines | 79.5 |
14 | Atlantic Coast Airlines | 79.1 |
15 | Alaska Airlines | 78.9 |
16 | Comair | 78.2 |
17 | American Eagle Airlines | 78.2 |
18 | America West Airlines | 76.7 |
19 | Atlantic Southeast Airlines | 71.5 |
TOTAL AVERAGE | 81.0 |
About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines, the nation's number one on-time carrier, is recognized as one of the best airlines in America. Business travelers recently surveyed by Condé Nast Traveler rated Hawaiian Airlines as having the best in-flight service and meals of any U.S. carrier. In addition, Hawaiian is ranked as the nation's fifth best airline overall by Travel + Leisure, ahead of every other carrier flying to Hawaii.
Celebrating its 75th year of continuous service, Hawaiian Airlines is Hawaii's biggest and longest-serving airline, and the second largest provider of passenger air service between Hawaii and the mainland U.S. Hawaiian offers nonstop service to Hawaii from more mainland U.S. gateways than any other airline. Hawaiian also provides approximately 117 daily jet flights among the Hawaiian Islands, as well as service to Australia, American Samoa and Tahiti.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc., is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (AMEX and PCX: HA). Since the appointment of a bankruptcy trustee in May 2003, Hawaiian Holdings has had no involvement in the management of Hawaiian Airlines and has had limited access to information concerning the airline. Additional information is available at www.HawaiianAir.com.