Airport data clear away the fog

Spokane airport passengers are twice as likely to face delays when landing here than when leaving, according to records compiled by the major commercial airlines.

About 22 percent of all flights arriving at Spokane International Airport are delayed, just a fraction higher than the national average of around 21 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Only 10 percent of flights leaving Spokane face delays, compared with 18 percent of departures nationwide, according to the data collected over the first five months of 2006.

“The good news is that we’re no worse than the national average for delays arriving here,” said Spokane airport spokesman Todd Woodard.

“It also disproves the urban legend that our airport has some of the worst fog in the country. This data shows that’s not the case,” he added.

For airlines, a delayed flight means it arrives 15 or more minutes after its scheduled arrival or departure.

The worst months for delays at Spokane’s airport are December, January and July. During July and December 2005, 27 percent of all Spokane commercial flights were delayed.

Woodard said two reasons explain why more flights face delays arriving than departing. “It takes much less visibility to take off than land,” he said. And since one-third of all Spokane’s commercial passenger flights are to or from Seattle, difficulties at Sea-Tac Airport tend to disrupt Spokane’s flights, he said. During 2006 so far, 18.4 percent of Seattle’s departing flights were delayed, according to BTS numbers.

Average delay times differed, depending on flights inbound or outbound, the data showed. Flights departing faced an average departure delay this year of 49 minutes. Flights arriving had an average delay of 43 minutes.

Notable also was a large decline in the number of Spokane flights that were canceled. Through May this year, a total of 33 flights were canceled — 12 arriving and 21 departing.

During the same period of 2005, 138 were canceled — 63 arriving and 75 departing. During 2004, 191 flights were canceled — 94 arriving, 97 departing.

Woodard said canceled flights are due to mechanical and weather-related problems. He surmised the large numbers in 2004 and 2005 resulted from severe winter ice storms that hit the Northwest or other parts of the country. Another less prominent factor is the fewer number of scheduled flights by carriers, he said. During the first five months of 2004, Spokane handled about 12,300 flights. In the same period this year, the total number of flights fell to 11,000 or so.

Even so, Spokane had more airplane seats filled during 2006 than 2004, due to airlines using larger aircraft and booking flights more efficiently, Woodard said.