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AIRLINESPLAYUPIMPROVEMENTSINONTIMEPERFORMANCE

TravelersinAtlantalineuptocheckinforaDeltaAirLinesflight.

Several airlines grabbed bragging rights for their ontime performances for all of 2009 after the government Friday released its Air Travel Consumer Report for December. But some conveniently ignoredrivalswithbetterpunctualityrecordsinaclassicgameofstatisticalslicinganddicing. Hawaiian Holdings Inc.'s Hawaiian Airlines, as usual, had the best performance of all 19 airlines that report domesticflight timeliness to the Department of Transportation. Tiny Hawaiian for the full year got92.1%ofitsflightstotheirdestinationswithin15minutesofschedule,itssixthconsecutiveyearin thetopspot.SouthwestAirlinesCo.,anotherperenniallypunctualcarrier,cameinsecond,with83%of itsflightsontime. ButsomelargercarriersblewofftheshowingsofHawaiian,Southwest,AlaskaAirGroup Inc.'sAlaska Airlinesandtworegionalairlinesthattoppedthelistof19.Instead,theycomparedthemselves,asthey oftendo,withahandfulofcompetitorswithsimilarhubandspokeroutenetworks. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. both look at a universe of just five carriers: themselves,DeltaAirLinesInc.(whichnowincludesNorthwestAirlines),AMRCorp.'sAmericanAirlines andContinentalAirlinesInc.Withinthatgroup,Unitedwasthe2009winner,with81%ofitsdomestic flightsexcluding regional flights flown by commuter partnersarriving within 15 minutes of their target. Joe Kolshak, United's senior vice president of operations, said although his company "certainly pays attentiontowhatSouthwestisdoing,"thediscounterhasonefleettypeandisn'tatruehubandspoke carrier.AsforHawaiian,hesaid,"lookatwherethey'reoperating,"referringtothecarrier'smanyflights withintheislands."That'snotavalid,statisticallymeaningfulcomparison."

Source:SusanCareyinTheWallStreetJournal,February13th2010 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703525704575061331712019218.html

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USAirwayscameinaclosesecondinthatsubset,afterbeingtheNo.1ontimeairlineamongthefivein 2008.RobertIsom,USAirways'chiefoperatingofficer,saidthecomparisonisavalidonebecausethe fiveoffer"adifferentproductandbusinessmodel,"withattributesthatincludeconnectinghubs,first classcabinsandinternationalandregionalflights."Whenwestackup,wecompareourselvestothebig majors,"hesaid. Inthatgrouping,DeltaandContinentalweretied,with78.8%ofdomesticflightsontime,andAmerican hada77.2%showing. "Ifwewerethem,"HawaiianCEOMarkDunkerleysaidofthefivecarriers,"we'dignoreustoo.Fiddling withtheDOTrankingsandmakingexcusesarenotwhatcustomerswant." SouthwestcarriesthemostdomesticpassengersofanyU.S.carrier,aspokesmansaid,"soI'dsaywe're aprettybigairlineevenifwedon'tactlikeone." AlaskaAirlines,asmallerhubandspokecarrier,takesadifferentapproach,onethatBenMinicucci,the chiefoperatingofficer,calledmore"fair."Alaskacomparesitselftothetop10U.S.airlinesbytraffic,a grouping that excludes Hawaiian. By that measure, Alaska came in second, just behind Southwest, in 2009. In spite of the hairsplitting, airlines in general are doing a better job of getting passengers to their destinationswithinafewminutesofschedule.Takentogether,all19carriersin2009achieveda79.5% ontime score, compared with 76% the year earlier. It was their best showing since 2003, the TransportationDepartmentsaid. Helpingtheimprovementwasanearly11%reductionindomesticcapacitybetweenJanuary2008and last month. Fewer flights mean less congestion at airports and in the overtaxed airtraffic control system. The improved showing of United, which ranked 17th in 2008, was partly the result of a yearslong employeecampaign.Theexerciseisn'trocketscience.Butitrequiresaconcertedefforttocommunicate withemployeesscatteredalloverthecountry,totrainworkerstonew,moreefficientstandardsandget themtoconsistentlyperformtheintricateballetofgettingflightsoutontimeathousandtimesaday. United'sMr.Kolshakestimatedthereare1,400differentelementsthatcomeintoplayinthedeparture ofeachUnitedplane.Onebigwaytogetitrightistoleaveontime,hesaid.Unitedofferedbonusesto employeesformeetingpunctualitygoals,andpaidout$825toeachofitseligible41,000workerslast year. Mr. Isom said US Airways also is trying to do a better job of leaving on time, as part of a worker campaign that has sharply improved its punctuality in the past two years. It paid employees $350 in bonuseslastyear.DittoforAlaskaAirlines,whichpaiditsworkers$1,000eachinbonuseslastyearfor achievingpunctualityandcustomersatisfactiongoals,accordingtoMr.Minicucci.

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Passengersgenerallydon'tchooseairlinesbecausetheyflyontime.Buttheyarepeevediftheirflights are late. And if many flights are delayed for reasons less obvious than bad weather, customers may switchtheirbusinesstoarival."Youcertainlywanttobeinthecompetitiveset,"saidMr.Isom."You don'twanttobeanoutlier."

QUESTIONS ThefirsttaboftheExcelfileFlightDelaysdata.xlsxhasdataonarrivalanddeparturedelaysforevery United Airlines flight that departed from Chicago OHare (ORD) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)inthefirstweekofJanuary2010.2 1.) Howwouldyousummarizethedataonminutesdelayed(atarrival)forthisflight? Fortheremainingquestions,wesaythataflightdepartedlateifitleftthegateatORDwithadelayof 15minutesorlonger.AflightarrivedlateifitarrivedatthegateatLAXwithadelayof15minutesor longer.Aflightthatisnotlateisontime. 2.) DothedataforthisflightsupportMr.Kolshaksassertionthatflightsthatdepartontimetendto arriveontime?IfyouonlylookattheflightsthatdepartedORDontime,whatwasthefraction offlightsthatarrivedinLAXontime?Comparethiswiththefractionofflightsthatarrivedon timeoutofalltheflightsthatdepartedlate. 3.) Whatwasthefractionofflightsthat a. departedontimeandarrivedontime? b. departedontimebutarrivedlate? c. departedlatebutarrivedontime? d. departedlateandarrivedlate? (Makesurethatthesumofa.,b.,c.andd.is1.)

Data source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Research and innovative technology administration (RITA), http://www.transtats.bts.gov/DL_SelectFields.asp?Table_ID=236&DB_Short_Name=OnTime