McMarran Sees Slight On-Time Performance Decline

There’s good news and bad news about the 2006 on-time arrival and departure statistics at McCarran International Airport.

The good news is that Las Vegas’ airport moved up in the rankings of on time performance among 31 major airports nationwide, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The bad news is that despite moving up, on time performance worsened from 2005 to 2006 at McCarran.

In 2005, McCarran ranked 18th in the nation in on-time arrivals with 77.83 percent of the flights coming in on time. Last year, the airport was ranked 16th in the nation, but the percentage of on-time arrivals fell to 76.45 percent.

On-time departures followed the same pattern. In 2005, the airport ranked 25th in the nation with 76.62 percent. Last year, the ranking went up to 23rd, but the percentage of on-time departures fell to 75.28 percent.

Statistics are based on reports filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation by 20 airlines.

The increase in flight delays followed a nationwide pattern, according to DOT statistics. Nationwide, the on-time arrival rate was 75.4 percent, down from 77.4 percent in 2005.

There are a number of reasons for flight delays with the most frequent cause being a late arrival from somewhere else. McCarran gets a lot of those kinds of delays because of foul weather in places like Chicago and — especially in December — Denver.

Weather plays a role in other reasons cited for delays. Bad weather is one of the delay categories. Wind shear during desert thunderstorms can produce delays in Las Vegas. Air traffic control system problems also are cited for delays. Sometimes, those involve equipment malfunctions, but they also can be the result of bad weather when controllers shift traffic patterns to avoid weather issues.

Another delay category is maintenance or crew problems.

In Las Vegas, a higher percentage of flights arrive late in the day than in other cities so it’s more likely that flights on the end of an aircraft’s itinerary are going to be late.

There were a few surprises in the national rankings announced by the Department of Transportation. For instance, one of the top airports for departures and arrivals in 2006 was Salt Lake City International Airport, a city commonly associated with snow (several ski resorts within an hour drive) and fog (the airport is adjacent to the Great Salt Lake). Yet SLC was first for on-time departures and second for arrivals.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International, another cold and snowy location and a busy operation as the home of Northwest Airlines, was sixth in both categories.

Not so surprising were the airports that finished at the bottom of the lists. For on-time departures, the nation’s two busiest airports fared worst, with Atlanta’s Hartfield International Airport — primary hub for Delta Air Lines — was No. 30 and Chicago’s O’Hare International — primary hub for United Airlines — was No. 31.

Busy skies reflected the worst on-time arrival performance with New York’s John F. Kennedy International, O’Hare, New York’s LaGuardia International and Newark, N.J., Liberty finishing No. 28 through 31. Coming in at No. 27 was Philadelphia International, home of US Airways’ largest East Coast hub.

In December, the airline with the worst on time arrival rate was Delta commuter partner SkyWest Airlines. JetBlue Airways, which is based at JFK and has dozens of flights from there, was third worst.

Not surprisingly, SkyWest flew the five most frequently delayed flights in December with the four worst flights being late 100 percent of the time.

The airline with the highest rate of cancellation in December was Denver-based Frontier Airlines, which endured a two-day closure in its home city just before Christmas. United, which also has a major presence in Denver, was third worst.


In other news:

US Airways to China? Phoenix-based US Airways, the No. 2 commercial carrier at McCarran, has filed with the Department of Transportation to offer nonstop flights between the United States and China beginning in 2008.

US Airways specifically asked for its request to be considered on a competitive basis with Delta Air Lines’ proposal for a nonstop route between Atlanta and Shanghai, which may sound a little like retaliation against Delta for spurning its merger bid.

The US Airways application doesn’t list any specific city pairs, but said the airline has been considering a China route for some time. Could US Airways be considering Las Vegas on the U.S. end?

The airline isn’t saying just yet. One would think that a link to China makes more sense from one of the airline’s Western hubs, even though US Airways has a bigger presence in Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C.

Then there’s Phoenix, the airline’s home base. There certainly would be a lot of civic backing in Phoenix for a nonstop route to China.

But the airline should also consider all the marketing work done by state and local officials for the past 2 1/2 years to make Las Vegas a desired destination for the Chinese.

But first things first. US Airways has to convince the Department of Transportation to consider its request. Then it presumably would have to compete with Delta and possibly other carriers.

United Airlines won the first route awarded by the Department of Transportation earlier this month when it approved flights between Washington, D.C., and Beijing.

US Airways, meanwhile, still smarting from losing the Delta deal, endured another storm when it was reported that Chief Executive Doug Parker was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated hours after Delta officially rejected the merger offer. Parker apologized to employees in a memo.

Southwest to San Francisco: Bet on Las Vegas being one of the first destinations Southwest Airlines will serve from San Francisco when it begins flying there later this year.

The airline announced that it has begun the process of getting gates at the airport and expects to begin flights by fall.

Southwest, which technically is returning to San Francisco since it used to fly there, announced that service to Oakland wouldn’t be affected by the new flights.

The market currently is served by United’s Ted subsidiary and US Airways.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail].