Delta worst for tarmac delays in March

An early March snowstorm in Atlanta landed Delta Air Lines at the top of the industry’s list for long tarmac delays and consumer complaints for that month.

The March 1 storm contributed to almost all of Delta’s long tarmac delays. Delta had 13 Atlanta flights stuck on the tarmac for four hours or more on March 1, including flights to New York; Jacksonville, Fla.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; and San Francisco, according to the report released by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

All five March flights with the longest tarmac delays were Delta flights from Atlanta.

The results were were “largely driven by two days of snow and deicing delays at our largest hub,” said Delta spokesman Kent Landers. “Delta people worked hard to serve customers during a late winter storm when more than 900 flights were canceled to and from Atlanta.”

The bureau’s list of flights late 80 or more percent of the time in March included several Atlanta flights on Delta or Delta Connection carriers. One was a Comair Atlanta-Newark flight that was late 96.3 percent of the time.

Delta also had the highest rate of consumer complaints to the U.S. Department of Transportation in March.

Delta ranked 16th among 19 carriers for on-time performance in March, and its Delta Connection partner Atlantic Southeast Airlines ranked last. AirTran Airways, Delta’s top rival in Atlanta, ranked 15th. Despite also having its main hub in Atlanta, AirTran had no local flights with tarmac delays of four or more hours.

Atlantic Southeast had the highest rate of canceled flights and the worst rate of mishandled baggage in March, as well as the highest rate of involuntarily bumped passengers in the first quarter. Spokeswoman Kate Modolo said the March 1 snowstorm and March 31 groundings of 60 of the carrier’s regional jets for inspections affected its performance.

Nationally, airlines had a 78.4 percent on-time arrival rate in March, up from 71.6 percent a year ago. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport had about 65 percent of flights arriving on time and a No. 29 ranking, a drop from March 2008.