BIA rates high with on-time flights

BANGOR – Eight out of 10 flights left Bangor International Airport on time last year, a rate that was on par with the rest of the country and slightly better than other airports in the region, according to federal statistics.

Highlighting what a BIA official said is the airport’s reputation for a quick turnaround time from when a plane lands to when it takes off again, the Bangor airport managed to send off flights on time nearly 81 percent of the time. That was despite flights coming into the airport on time 73 percent of the time last year, according to data released by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

“We built international charter traffic and corporate aviation traffic on the premise that they can get through Bangor quickly,” BIA Director Rebecca Hupp said Tuesday.

As an example of how efficient BIA can be, airport officials recalled how a few years ago two corporate jets took off from London and headed to Detroit, as corporate officials tested a new model that could fly the full distance without having to stop to refuel in Bangor.

The newer plane arrived in Detroit quicker, but because Bangor offered customs clearance, passengers on that flight actually disembarked in Detroit sooner than did those on the other flight who had to clear customs in Detroit, Assistant BIA Director Tony Caruso said Tuesday.

“When they got to Detroit, they could taxi directly to the hangar,” Caruso said.

The yearlong statistics and monthly statistics are compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which considers a delayed flight as one that arrived or departed more than 15 minutes after the scheduled time.

A review of the figures showed that Bangor’s airport fared better in terms of on-time departures than did the Portland International Jetport, where planes left on time nearly 78 percent of the time. Bangor’s performance was closer to Boston’s Logan Airport, where on-time departures were reported at 82 percent of the time, while the airport in Manchester, N.H., showed a better turnaround rate by about four percentage points.

Bangor’s departure rates have largely been in a holding pattern in recent years, showing a slight percentage drop from last year, even though departure flights soared by 20 percent, or by nearly 700 more flights, from 2003 to 2004.

Although the statistics show BIA in a favorable light and are worth looking at, Hupp said there’s a caveat. Delays at other airports can mean delayed arrivals at BIA, she said.

“It’s nothing we have control over,” Hupp said. “Arrival is strictly a function of airline operations and activity at other airports.”

Planes arrived on time 73 percent of the time at BIA last year, below the national average and lower than Manchester and Boston but above the percentage seen at Portland, according to the federal statistics.