US Airways continued to struggle in April

US Airways continued to struggle in April to provide good service at Philadelphia International Airport and throughout its system, according to the latest data on airline performance from the U.S. Transportation Department.

The department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in a report released today, said 56 percent of US Airways flights to Philadelphia arrived on time in April. Throughout US Airways' system, 63 percent of its flights made it to their destinations on time during the month.

The report found that flights by all airlines left Philadelphia within 15 minutes of their schedule 68 percent of the time in April, just ahead of Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago O'Hare; and New York Kennedy and Newark. Philadelphia arrivals were on time 65 percent of the time, ahead of O'Hare and the three New York-area airports: Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark. The report covers the 32 largest U.S. airports.

In March, when Philadelphia operations were hobbled by a winter storm and US Airways' computer-system problems, 59 percent of the airport's flights on all carriers arrived on time and 60 percent departed on time. US Airways Group Inc. operates more than 60 percent of the flights from Philadelphia.

US Airways also trailed other major airlines in lost or damaged baggage and consumer complaints in April, according to a second set of data, the Transportation Department's Air Travel Consumer Report, also issued today.

US Airways had 7.96 mishandled-bag reports for every 1,000 passengers, compared with an industry average of 6.32 per 1,000. Consumers complained about US Airways' service at a rate of 4.82 per 100,000 passengers. The average for all carriers, including commuter airlines, was 1.64 complaints per 100,000 passengers.

Southwest Airlines Co., Philadelphia's second-largest airline, finished first among major airlines here, with 77 percent of flights arriving on time in April. Over its entire system, 82 percent of Southwest flights arrived on time in the month. The airline had a misplaced-baggage rate of 5.86 per 1,000 passengers, slightly better than the national average, and a complaint rate of 0.33 per 100,000 passengers, the best among major carriers.