Virgin America posts best on-time rate this February

Virgin America has posted the best on-time rate of 91.7 percent in February 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) statistics. The airline trounced the perennial leader Hawaiian Airlines.

Passengers buying Virgin America air tickets were happy at the outcome as they seldom had to face tarmac delays.

Hawaiian Airlines tied for second with AirTran Airways with an on-time rate of 91.2 percent. Hawaiian Airlines usually attains the first place in posting best on-time rates in the Department of Transportation monthly statistics because it flies in tropical weather and short distances.

The DOT statistics revealed that the largest U.S. carriers posted an average rate of 86.2 percent this February. This was the best performance by the carriers for the month ever since the data was first reported in 1995. Cancellations were also significantly down with only 1.0 percent of scheduled flights being cancelled by the carriers.

The DOT further said that the baggage handling rate was also improved by the carriers to 2.64 reports per 1,000 passengers, the lowest rate for any month. The carriers also didn’t report any tarmac delays of over three hours.