The United States Department of Transportation was pleased to report that the number of flights that arrived on time for August, when compared to July, were high. This means more flights were arriving on time and less flights were canceled. At the same time, the department was just as quick to point out that their was a drop in the number of travelers as well.

For United States airlines, their on time arrivals improved to 79.9 percent. This is up 2.1 percent from July and is an improvement over August 2008 as well. This information came from the Air Travel Consumer Report from the Department of Transportation.

Of course, the improvement comes just after the number of travelers dropped by 5.1 percent to just 57 million overall in August. This is a decrease of about 3 million travelers across the United States. On top of this, 44,000 fewer flights were launched when compared to the same month a year ago. Thus, some experts point out that it is easier to see an improvement in this area when airlines are launching less flights.

The Department of Transportation also reported that a nationwide 1 percent of all flights were canceled in August. This is compared to the 1.6 percent of flights that were canceled last year at the same time. It does appear that late arriving aircrafts where responsible for most of the delays that were seen.

Overall, American Airlines improved its own on time arrival rating to 77.2 percent. This is up 5 percent from July, and ranks American Airlines 14^th in the United States for on time carriers. Southwest Airlines was able to be ranked sixth with 82.9 percent of its flights arriving on time. Continental Airlines came in last with 65.9 percent of its flights making their trip on time.