Good Side of Fewer Flights - Better Performance

Is there an upside to the current state of the airline industry?  Flights are more expensive and there are fewer passengers.  Everything seems to be headed downhill.

There are some bright spots on the horizon: Southwest (and its low fares) will be expanding next year.  More service to destinations in China and India could, eventually, bring down the price of international air travel.  Mergers between major airlines mean that they will survive to fight another day.

But what about right now?

Airlines’ on-time performance increased significantly over the past two months.  Fall is generally a slow time in the airline industry.  The summer rush has ended and things aren’t going to pick up again until the holidays.  But this year, arrival and departure times have been especially good.  That is most likely because airlines are trimming their routes and offering fewer flights than usual this fall.  The cuts led to a 4% better on time rating in September ’08 compared to the same month of ’07.  The on-time percentage hovered around 75% for most of the summer.

So if you are flying any time before the holidays, you can expect that the odds are that you’ll be leaving and arriving on time.  (However, cancellations are up a fraction of a percentage point compared to last fall).

The cancellations mostly have to do with budget concerns.  The fact that fewer flights are in the air or on the runway often means less time waiting in a queue to take-off or land.  It also means that airlines are able to focus on the flights that they have and retrieve baggage, board planes and provide ticketing services in a timelier manner.

Of course, many travelers would rather have cheaper, more convenient flights instead of a 4% increase in the chance that they’ll arrive at their destination on time.  They’ll just have to sit tight.  Airfares don’t look to be going anywhere until at least the spring of next year.