Ultralow-cost carrier Allegiant reported an on-time rate of
78.5% in January, the first month for which it was required to report on-time
and cancellation data to the Department of Transportation.
The stat, which accounts for all flights that arrive within
15 minutes of schedule, compares with a 79.6% U.S. industrywide on-time average
in January and placed Allegiant ninth out of 18 reporting airlines.
Allegiant is now reporting to the DOT due to an October 2016
agency directive that required carriers generating at least 0.5% of total U.S.
scheduled passenger revenue to report on-time and cancellation data beginning
this year. The previous reporting threshold had been 1%.
Regional carriers Endeavor, Envoy, Mesa, PSA and Republic,
all of which fly routes marketed by mainline carriers Delta, United or
American, are the other carriers that had to begin reporting data to the DOT.
Alaska led the way among the 18 reporting airlines with an
88.9% on-time performance. The carrier's top ranking is notable since its
on-time performance dipped as low as 78.4% in the first quarter of last year as
merger efforts with Virgin America got underway.
Trailing the ranking was JetBlue, with an on-time
performance rate of 65.8%.
Among the newly reporting regional airlines, Mesa led the
way with a 76.9% on-time performance, followed by Endeavor (76.5%), Republic
(76.2%), Envoy (74.7%) and PSA (70.2%).
In its first reporting month, Allegiant reported a
cancellation rate of 0.9%, second-lowest only to Hawaiian's 0.2%.
The regional airlines fared far worse. PSA, Endeavor, Mesa,
Republic and Envoy each ranked in the bottom seven in terms of cancellation
percentage, with PSA recording a 7% cancellation rate -- the highest. The poor
cancellation performance among those airlines comes amid a nationwide pilot
shortage that has disproportionately impacted regional carriers.