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Travelers at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport dealt with more delayed departures than passengers at nearly 90 percent of the nation's airports in 2016, according to federal data, while on-time departures at Pittsburgh International Airport bested about two-thirds of other airports nationwide.

Overall airline on-time performance is up across the country, according to federal records and industry experts. But Spirit Airlines — the sole carrier at Arnold Palmer Regional near Latrobe — turned in some of the worst on-time performance of the nation's top airlines.

Seventy-four percent of Spirit flights operated on time during the 12-month period that ended in November, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's latest Air Travel Consumer Report. That was the lowest on-time performance rate during that time among U.S. airlines required to report.

Arnold Palmer Regional reported 80 percent of departures occurring on time through November. The figure puts the Unity airport in the bottom 13 percent of the 310 airports with on-time performance data available.

Flights are considered on time if they operate within 15 minutes of their schedule.

Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, said the airport's staff does an excellent job when it comes to making flights run on time — and in some cases they must do more than warm-weather counterparts to combat winter-related issues, such as clearing snow from runways and de-icing aircraft.

“Arizona doesn't have a snow removal problem,” he said.

Monzo noted that the airport outperformed Spirit's overall rating.

Wichita State University professor Dean Headley, who along with other researchers releases an annual report on airline industry quality, said outperforming their sole airline suggests the staff at Arnold Palmer Regional runs the facility well.

“People should be very happy to use that airport,” he said.

Spirit did not respond to a request for comment.

Slightly more than 87 percent of flights leaving Pittsburgh International — where 15 carriers operate — departed on time. The national on-time departure rate was 82.4 percent through November.

Updated figures for all of 2016 are expected to be released in mid-February.

Allegheny County Airport Authority spokesman Bob Kerlik said airport officials work with airlines and the Transportation Security Administration to ensure operations run smoothly. The airport's snow removal team is among “the best in the world,” he added.

Delays often are beyond Pittsburgh International's control, Kerlik said, such as when planes arrive late because of issues or bad weather at their departing airport.

About 83 percent of flights to Pittsburgh arrived on time. That figure was roughly 77 percent at Arnold Palmer.

On-time performance is one of several quality benchmarks trending up for the airline industry in recent years, according to Wichita State's most recent Airline Quality Rating report. In 2014, on-time performance for the industry as a whole was about 76 percent. In 2015, that figure rose to almost 80 percent.

On-time performance improvements stem largely from improved revenue streams that have allowed carriers to invest in better equipment and systems along with more carrier consolidation in recent years, Headley said. Consolidation has led to fewer flights overall, even as passenger numbers have increased.

Scheduled domestic flights, which numbered 10 million in 2005, dropped to 8 million in 2015, according to Bureau of Transportation Statistics. There were 6.8 million domestic flights in the first 10 months of 2016.

Nationwide, scheduled passenger service stood at 657 million for domestic flights in 2005, according to the bureau. By 2015, the figure climbed to 696 million. It reached nearly 601 million through the first 10 months of last year.

The 2016 Airline Quality Rating report is due to be released in April. Headley said airlines appear to again be “inching forward in performance.”

Whether consumers recognize that remains to be seen.

“Perception is reality,” Headley said, “and some people just can't get it out of their head that the airlines suck.”

Michael Walton is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1290 or mwalton@tribweb.com.

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