U.S. Airline On-Time Arrival Performance Metrics

25 months of monthly on-time arrival data for U.S. marketing air carriers, collected by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The dataset tracks the percentage of flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule, focusing on carriers with significant domestic market share. It is maintained by the U.S. Department of Transportation and updated monthly.

Use Cases

• Analyze monthly on-time arrival percentage trends to identify carriers with consistent performance issues.
• Compare carrier performance by calculating the share of flights arriving within the 15-minute on-time threshold.
• Model the relationship between carrier size (based on the 1% domestic enplanement threshold) and on-time arrival rates.
• Track changes in reporting carrier composition over time, noting the shift to a consistent 25-month reporting panel for recent data.

Strengths

• Data is collected from U.S. air carriers by the authoritative Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
• Includes a 25-month consistent panel of reporting carriers for reliable trend analysis.
• Defines on-time performance using a clear, standard metric (arrival within 15 minutes of schedule).
• Focuses on carriers with at least 1% of domestic enplanements, capturing major market participants.

Limitations

• Limited to carriers meeting a specific market share threshold, excluding smaller regional operators.
• The dataset's temporal coverage for consistent analysis is restricted to the most recent 25 months.
• Lacks granular flight-level data, providing only aggregated carrier-level performance percentages.

Provenance

Source

Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation.

Collection Method

Performance data collected from U.S. air carriers and international carriers operating within the U.S.

Time Range

Last 25 months for consistent panel; earlier periods include all reporting carriers.

Freshness

Updated monthly; last updated January 2025.

Geography

United States, covering domestic enplanements and operations within the U.S.