Two LV flights among most delayed in nation

Friday, June 3, 2005 | 10:39 a.m.

Southwest Airlines' Flight 1660 from Las Vegas to Phoenix was one of the nation's most frequently delayed flights in April.

The flight, linking two of the busiest airports in the system of McCarran International Airport's most popular commercial air carrier, was late 80.8 percent of the time that month, according to statistics produced this week by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The flight leaves Las Vegas at 5:15 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays and at 5:30 p.m. every other day it operates. The flight doesn't run on Saturdays. It was the third most frequently delayed flight in the nation in April.

DOT's report indicates that McCarran ranked 17th among 33 major U.S. airports in on-time arrivals with 84.1 percent and 27th in departures with 83.5 percent in April. McCarran is the sixth busiest airport in the United States according to DOT figures ranking departures and arrivals.

A flight is considered "on time" if it operates less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time.

Southwest officials could not be reached for comment this morning on why the Las Vegas-to-Phoenix flight is one of the worst at getting out on time.

AirTran Airways' Flight 47 from Atlanta to Las Vegas was late 83.3 percent of the time, the second-worst of the delayed flights.

Rosemary Vassiliadis, deputy director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, which administers McCarran, said capacity issues associated with local weather problems usually accounts for delays in arrivals and departures at the Las Vegas airport.

When wind conditions force air-traffic controllers to use the airport's north-south runways, capacity is reduced because those runways are closer together than the east-west runways and controllers are required to put more distance between arriving planes.

In addition, the north-south runways are shorter than the east-west strips and on hot days conditions prohibit some fully loaded planes from taking off on them.

McCarran also is hampered with capacity issues late at night when America West Airlines and other discount fliers increase flights to move passengers through Las Vegas to other destinations. For example, in April, between the hours of 9 and 10 p.m., fewer than 70 percent of the flights to Las Vegas left on time.

Between the hours of 5 and 6 p.m., when Southwest's Flight 1660 is scheduled to leave McCarran, 81 percent of the airport's flights left on time in April, below the overall average.

The DOT report said Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways, both players at the Las Vegas airport, had the lowest on-time arrival rate for the month at 77 percent. Two other carriers that have flights to McCarran, Hawaiian and ATA Airlines, had the best on-time arrival rates at 95.6 percent and 89 percent, respectively.

Hawaiian also had the lowest rate of canceled flights, 0.1 percent, while Continental was second at 0.2 percent and Southwest, 0.3 percent. Airlines with the highest rates of canceled flights don't operate in Las Vegas -- Atlantic Southeast, American Eagle and Comair.