U.S. airlines canceled just 0.6% of flights during the four Labor Day weekend travel days, according to FlightAware, ending a summer of poor operations on a positive note.
U.S. carriers also delayed 16% of flights from Friday through Monday.
The cancellation figure compares favorably with Labor Day weekend 2019, when U.S. airlines canceled 2.6% of flights, and with last year, when their cancellation rate was 1.5%.
But the delay percentage was higher than both of those years. Last year, U.S. airlines delayed 13% of flights on Labor Day weekend. In 2019, they delayed 11.6% of flights.
Still, the delay rate for the holiday weekend represents an improvement for airlines compared with the summer overall. From the Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day, U.S. carriers delayed 22.3% of flights. The traditional summer travel period saw U.S. carriers cancel 2.1% of flights overall.
Poor operations, especially from the mid-spring through early summer, caused U.S. carriers to significantly scale back flight schedules. They also caused a surge of media scrutiny and led to the DOT's launch last week of an online dashboard that compares the services airlines offer when they are responsible for flight delays and cancellations.