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Late arrivals increased in 2004

Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 | 9:29 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The number of airplanes that arrived more than 15 minutes late rose by more than 20 percent last year, the Transportation Department said Thursday.

In a study of the 19 largest airlines, which flew about 7.1 million flights last year, the department said late arrivals rose to 21.9 percent from 18 percent in 2003, meaning more than 1.5 million flights were late.

Those carriers also recorded a slightly higher rate of mishandled bags, 4.91 per 1,000 passengers, up from 4.19 percent in 2003. Both rates were good by historical standards.

The numbers showed a stunning diversity. The highest rates of on-time arrivals were 93.9 percent at Hawaiian Airlines, 82.7 percent at the commuter carrier SkyWest and 81.8 percent at JetBlue.

But one SkyWest flight, 6973 from Indianapolis to Chicago, was late every time. A spokeswoman for the airline, Alison Gemmell, said the flights began only on Dec. 16 and had been affected by bad weather at O'Hare.

The lowest rates for on-time arrivals were 73.2 percent at American Eagle, a division of AMR; 74.7 percent at Independence Air; and 75.7 percent at America West.

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