For the second consecutive month, the number of U.S. airport tarmac delays of more than three hours was in the double digits in June, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Fourteen delays were recorded, down from 16 in May but up from three in June 2010. There were only 20 such delays all of last year.
A federal rule carrying the threat of large fines for holding passengers on an aircraft on the ground went into effect at the end of April 2010. So far, no airlines have had to pay a fine.
Five of the tarmac delays were at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on June 21, and three occurred at Washington Dulles International Airport on June 16, with all taking place on days the areas experienced storms.
A United Airlines flight to Denver was among those grounded June 16 at Dulles. No other tarmac delays had a Denver connection.
The longest delay was nearly four hours for an American Eagle flight from New York’s JFK International Airport to St. Louis on June 25.
The Transportation Department is investigating all of the reported tarmac delays.
The department’s monthly air consumer travel report, issued Tuesday, also showed that the nation’s 16 largest airlines improved their collective on-time arrival rate to 76.9 percent, from 76.4 percent in June 2010.
At Denver International Airport, 80.8 percent of flights in June arrived on time.
Passengers were happier this June compared with the same period a year earlier. Complaints were down, with Frontier Airlines — the third-largest carrier in Denver — trimming its complaints in half.
Complaints about airline service totaled 1,127 in June, down 20.8 percent from the 1,423 filed in June 2010.
Mishandled baggage complaints were down slightly in June, at 3.57 per 1,000 passengers, compared with 3.65 per 1,000 in June 2010.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
