US Airways' Strong December On-Time Performance

(MoneyWatch)  DOT numbers are out for December, and as I've warned, they weren't pretty. While we were scolding airlines that didn't reach 80 percent on time in October and November, beating 70 percent in December made you a rock star. Of course, bad weather contributed to the pain, but there was one airline that stood out in a good way. You'll be surprised to hear that it was US Airways.

It sounds funny to say it, but US Airways had 72.1 percent of its flight arrive on time in December and that makes them a standout. Even perennial 90 percent+ airline Hawaiian fell to 79.6 percent for the month. And no other airline even went above 70 percent. So how did US Airways do it?

Since we know weather was the main cause of delays, it's easy to assume that US Airways succeeded by not having hubs in bad weather places. But that's not the case. They have substantial operations at La Guardia, Boston, and Philly. Those places were all hit hard during the month, and US Airways did quite well there.

If you look through the trends, airlines did better in their hubs in general. To understand why, it's important to remember that this shows on time performance by operating carrier, not marketing carrier. So a US Airways flight from Philly to Phoenix will show up as US Airways but a US Airways Express flight from Philly to Erie will show up under the operating carrier's results. In the hubs, airlines have big mixes of mainline and regional flying, so they can delay more regional flights to keep the mainline operation on time. Still, US Airways did better in its hubs compared to other airlines.

Looking at La Guardia, a focus city for the airline with 1,006 US Airways' arrivals during the month, the airline performed quite well. With 73.2 percent of flights arriving on time, the airline beat out American's 58.4 percent and Delta's 68 percent. Even just a few points can make a big difference. In this case, had US Airways operated at Delta's 68 percent, that would have meant an extra 50 flights would have been delayed.

From an airline that has long lagged in the operational category, it's nice to see US Airways make some serious changes. Now it needs to work on complaints - people apparently are still complaining enough to keep the airline near the bottom of the list.