March U.S. flight operations for the 10 reporting carriers increased 4.6 percent year over year, while the rate of cancellations declined, according to the latest U.S. Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report, released Tuesday.
On a month-over-month basis, the number of flights the 10 carriers operated in March increased 15.5 percent to nearly 608,400, and cancellations were down from 1.8 percent in February 2023 to 1.3 percent. Cancellations also were down from 1.5 percent in March 2022.
The reporting carriers with the lowest rates of canceled flights for March include Hawaiian Airlines (0.7 percent), Allegiant Air (0.8 percent) and Southwest Airlines (0.9 percent), according to DOT. Those with the highest rates of cancellations were the Delta Air Lines network (1.7 percent), Spirit Airlines (1.7 percent) and JetBlue Airways (1.6 percent). Networks include branded codeshare partners.
For the first quarter of 2023, reporting carriers posted a cancellation rate of 1.7 percent, down from 4.1 percent a year prior.
Carriers handled 42 million bags in March and reported a mishandled baggage rate of 0.58 percent, higher than the March 2022 rate of 0.57 percent, but lower than the February 2023 rate of 0.61 percent.
For the first quarter, the carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 0.64 percent, equal to the rate from Q4 2022 and lower than the rate of 0.65 percent from Q1 2022.
DOT for the fourth month in a row did not include complaint data in its report, citing “a high volume of air travel service complaints” against airlines and ticket agents in recent months. The March 2023 complaint data will be available in July, according to the agency. January’s air complaint data was released May 17 and represented a 112 percent increase year over year.
