The region?s three major airports ranked close to the national averages for on-time flight arrivals and departures in recently released federal statistics, but cooler weather could lead to smoother trips for holiday travelers.
Nationally, 76 percent of flights arrived on time in September and 79 percent left on time, according the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport graded the best of the three for on-time arrival at 83 percent. Flights departed BWI on schedule 82 percent of the time.
Flights landed on time at Dulles International and Reagan National 76 percent of the time, and they left Dulles as scheduled 75 percent. National?s departures were better, meeting its schedules 83 percent of the time. According to the statistics, weather caused nearly half the delays. Though winter brings snow and ice, those conditions are not as hard on planes as some summer weather conditions.
“Planes can fly through snow much easier than a severe thunderstorm,” said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents airlines. “Airlines spend every day thinking about how to reduce delays because delays cost them money, but a lot of the times the delays are beyond the airlines? control.”
Weather-related delays could be reduced, Castelveter said, if Congress approves funding next year for airports to install sophisticated air-traffic control equipment. The new equipment would allow planes to fly closer to each other during bad weather instead of having to spread out, which is what causes the delays, he said.
The statistics do not measure exact arrival and departure times. And arrival and departure do not mean when the plane actually takes off and lands.
Planes waiting on the runways or stuck circling airports waiting to land could be classified as being on schedule.
“They get a 15-minute grace period based on when the planes leave the gate and when the planes arrive at the gate,” said U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Mosley.
