The U.S. Department of Transportation Thursday confirmed what travelers using Delta Air Lines in December already knew — the Atlanta-based airline was worst among the nation's major carriers in arriving on time that month.

        Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Delta's second-biggest hub, also suffered because of Delta's troubles, with 64.5 percent of incoming flights arriving on time. That dropped the facility to 12th in December, compared with fifth in November, among the nation's 29 biggest airports.

        “December was obviously a challenging month for us,” said Delta spokesman Andy McDill. “But we got almost all of our passengers where they were going.”

ON-TIME ARRIVALS

December on-time performance for the nation's biggest airlines (U.S. Department of Transporation defines on-time as arriving within 15 minutes of schedule):     1) Aloha 91.9 percent     2) Continental 74.0     3) US Airways 67.1     4) Southwest 65.3     5) America West 64.6     6) United 61.3     7) American 60.8     8) TWA 60.4     9) Northwest 58.2     10) Alaska 57.0     11) Delta 56.1     Average 62.8 percent     Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics     Here are the on-time performances for 2000 for the nation's major carriers:     1) Continental 78.1 percent     2) Northwest 77.4     3) TWA 76.9     4) Delta 75.3     5) Southwest 75.2     6) American 72.9     7) US Airways 72.3     8) Alaska 68.1     9) America West 65.5     10) United 61.4     Average: 72.6 percent     * — List does not include Aloha, which was not big enough to be listed until October.

        The December results were a fitting end to a bad year for the airline industry. More than a quarter of flights on major airlines arrived late — the worst record in five years — the Transportation Department said.

        Planes arrived late 27.4 percent of the time in 2000, 3.5 percentage points worse than the year before and the largest percentage of delays since the department started collecting this kind of data in 1995.

        Passenger complaints to the department were up 14 percent, totaling more than 23,000.

        For December, Delta flights arrived at their destinations within 15 minutes of schedule only 56.1 percent of the time, according to the report by the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

        It was the first time since statistics have been kept that Delta has finished last among the nation's 11 biggest carriers. The average among those carriers was 62.8 percent, with Aloha Airlines leading the way with a 91.9 percent on-time rate.

        Mr. McDill said a shortage of pilots willing to work voluntary overtime and two big storms in the South and along the East Coast during December drove the numbers down.

        He said the company sacrificed on-time performance for the ability to get people around. Delta canceled 10.1 percent of its flights during the month, tops among major carriers but a number Mr. McDill said the company took pride in, considering the circumstances.

        Delta and its pilots have been negotiating a contract since September. In December, Delta announced it was cutting flights because of a drop in voluntary overtime requests, which the airline says it uses to fill out about 5 percent of its 2,700-flight daily schedule.

        Contract talks entered a 90-day federal mediation period in December, with a deadline of Feb. 28. If no agreement is reached by then, and either side rejects a mediator's offer, the National Mediation Board could release the company and pilots for a 30-day cooling-off period. After that, the company can impose its own contract and the pilots can conduct legal job actions, up to and including a strike.

        Air Line Pilots Association spokeswoman Karen Miller said the pilots will not accept blame for increased delays, saying the pilots were well within their rights to not request overtime.

        “But we can't see those numbers, so we're just focused on the fact that we're negotiating, and 28 days away from the possible start of a cooling-off period,” Ms. Miller said.

        For the year, Delta finished fourth among the major airlines with an on-time performance of 75.3 percent. Continental Airlines was first for 2000 at 78.1 percent, and United, which had its own labor trouble last summer and fall, was last at 61.4 percent.
       
   

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