The New United Is #1 : Up & Down Game Of On-Time Performance

Airlines will constantly juggle who is #1 in any given category. Nearly every month and every quarter airlines adjust statistics to promote their top ranked aspects … so …

… the official on time performance numbers for August have been released by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the top on-time airlines in the United States, among the “Big Five” (now the “Big Four” as of October 1) show Continental Airlines as #1, with an 87.1% on-time performance and United Airlines as #2 with an 85.1% on-time performance rating.

As United Airlines and Continental Airlines are now a single airline, as of October 1st, will the combined airline be able to maintain its top ranking of on-time performance among the “Big Four?”

We have barely begun to see the impact of Continental and United combining to become The New United Airlines and hopefully passengers will continue to experience the airline’s on time performance rating.   On-time ratings are often more challenging for larger airlines, bigger airlines have more moving parts and more moving parts means more things can go wrong.

Wondering exactly how large is The New United Airlines? To put this in perspective, The New United Airlines operates approximately 27.35% of all Star Alliance’s estimated 21,200 daily flights … and Star Alliance is currently comprised of 27 airlines.

It should be interesting to watch this new mega-airline grow and see what happens.

Happy Flying!