McCarran on-time performance called lacking

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

The 2000 airline quality report issued this week by Brent Bowen and Dean Headley says McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas did not fare well in on-time performance.

The report said three out of 10 flights don't arrive or depart on time at McCarran, placing it each month in the bottom half of 30 U.S. airports with more than 5,000 operations per month.

McCarran's best month for on-time services was September when 79.4 percent of the arrivals and 79.2 percent of the departures were on time. The worst month: December, when 64.6 percent of the arrivals and 65.9 percent of the departures left on time.

In March, when about 70 percent of the flights were on time, McCarran ranked 29th out of 30 airports for the month.

But Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, says the statistics don't tell the whole story. Walker said about 56 percent of operations from McCarran are to and from airports that create 92 percent of the nation's flight delays.

"So when a plane isn't allowed to take off because of weather or some problem somewhere else, there could be blue skies and no problems here, but it still counts as a late departure for us," Walker said.

Walker said federal officials are refining statistics to show the real reason for delays and whether they can be attributed to bad weather or operational problems with the airport or the airline.