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December 8, 2010 - The nation’s largest airlines
reported no flights in October with tarmac delays of
more than three hours, down from 11 flights in October
2009, with a slight decrease in the rate of canceled
flights, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report
released on Tuesday by the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT).
This is the first month there were no tarmac delays of
more than three hours by the reporting carriers since
the Department began collecting more comprehensive
tarmac delay data in October 2008. Data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) showed there have been only 12 total tarmac delays of more than three hours reported from May through October this year by the 18 airlines that file on-time performance data with DOT, compared to 546 during the same five-month period of 2009. |
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October
was the sixth full month of data since the new aviation consumer
rule went into effect on April 29. BTS is a part of DOT’s
Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). The number of canceled flights with tarmac delays of more than two hours increased only slightly this year, from 224 between May and October 2009 to 230 between May and October 2010. There were five canceled flights with tarmac delays of more than two hours in October 2010, slightly up from the total of four in October 2009. “October was the first month that there were no tarmac delays lasting longer than three hours since our rule was adopted. We appreciate the effort that the airlines are putting into making this new rule work effectively for the benefit of their passengers,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.
The new
tarmac delay rule prohibits |