By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Delta Connection carriers Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, along with AirTran Airways, occupied the three bottom spots in on-time rankings for July, according to the latest federal monthly report.

But the industry overall posted an improved performance, with 77.6 percent of flights arriving on time during the month, up from 75.7 percent in July 2008. And for the year through July, the industry had its best on-time performance since 2003.

Rates of mishandled baggage and consumer complaints also fell.

The improvements came as passenger traffic dropped amid the weak economy, prompting most carriers to trim schedules.

Atlanta’s biggest players were in the bottom third by rank, however.

Delta Air Lines, with a 75.5 percent rate, came in 13th out of the 19 carriers ranked. Orlando-based AirTran, which has its largest hub in Atlanta, had 69.8 percent of flights arrive on time to rank 17th. Atlantic Southeast was next-to-last at 68.3 percent, and Comair brought up the rear at 63.6 percent, according to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The delays were generally due to bad weather, particularly thunderstorms in Atlanta or New York, said Delta spokesman Anthony Black.

Several Atlanta flights operated by Delta, its regional carriers and AirTran fell into the chronically-delayed category, meaning they arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule 80 percent of the time or more. They included flights to Atlanta from Omaha; Knoxville; Charleston, S.C.; Greenville, S.C.; Newark; and Chattanooga; and flights from Atlanta to New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.

Delta also had the industry’s longest tarmac delay during the month, with a flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Portland, Ore. on July 26 stuck on the tarmac for a total of about six and a half hours. Black said a line of thunderstorms that crossed the area after the plane left the gate led to the lengthy ground delay in New York.

Meanwhile, passenger rights advocates are gaining support for legislation that would require airlines to offer passengers the option of getting off a plane three hours into an on-board delay. The Business Travel Coalition on Tuesday joined groups endorsing the three-hour limit, which is in legislation passed by the U.S. Senate commerce committee.