U.S. carriers cancelled 1.1 percent of schedule domestic flights in July, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation report, the same number as June and 0.8 percent less than July 2016.
The reporting carriers also had an on-time arrival rate of 76.9 percent, up 0.7 percent from June and up 1.7 percent from last year.
Tarmac delays of more than three hours increased dramatically, from six in June and 16 in July.
Many regularly scheduled flights were chronically delayed: 134 were chronically delayed for two consecutive months and 28 were chronically delayed for three consecutive months. A chronic delay is defined as one lasting for more than 30 minutes 50 percent or more of the time.
Aviation system issues, maintenance or crew problems, extreme weather and security issues were blamed for the delays.
July’s mishandled baggage rate was 2.79 reports per 1,000 passengers. June’s rate was 2.65 and July 2016’s rate was 3.32.
Four animals were killed and one was injured. In June, there were three reports filed, while last year there were two reports.
Customer complaints varied in July. Airline-service complaints declined 2.5 percent from 2016, but spiked 19.3 percent from June.
Complaints over the treatment of disabled passengers also increased from June as did discrimination complaints.