Spirit Airlines takes lead in on-time flights

Spirit Airlines moved into first place in October for on-time flights, according to the latest air travel consumer report by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The low-cost airline, which is the sole commercial carrier serving Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity and also offers flights from Pittsburgh International Airport, led a listing of 10 carriers in the report with 89 percent of its flights arriving on time in October.

It bumped Hawaiian Airlines Network, which led September’s on-time ranking, into the second spot, with an 88.5 percent on-time arrival rate. Delta Airlines Network came in third in October, with 87.1 percent of its flights arriving on time.

Also in October, Spirit ranked second for the lowest rate of canceled flights, at two-tenths of a percent.

The report marks a high point in a trend of improvement for Spirit, which had an on-time rate of just 74 percent for the 12 months that ended in November 2016.

“We have looked at every aspect of our operation to improve our reliability, and this ranking only highlights those changes,” said Spirit spokesman Derek Dombrowski, who said the carrier has adjusted its schedule, aircraft utilization and crew scheduling.

“We are happy with the operational numbers we continue to see, and we feel like we are on the right course,” he said.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.