An Air Jamaica plane sits on the tarmac, at the Norman Manley International Airport, Kingston. - File
The good thing about websites like flightstats.com is that if you need to travel, you may avoid having to suffer ridiculously long delays. The bad thing, however, which really is no fault of the website, is that the numbers often reflect too poorly on Air Jamaica's service as an airline.
Flightstats.com's ratings reveal the patterns in 'recent flight performances' of airlines across the world, providing travellers the opportunity to make informed flight choices. It is one of a number of websites offering such services. Travellers across the world are given the option to compare the performance of all flights on any given route, the performance of different airports, or the overall performance of any airline on all their routes, among other things.
The Gleaner evaluated the performance of the national carrier in contrast to its top competitors on three of its most popular routes and found some interesting information.
Kingston to Miami
The first survey observed all airlines departing Norman Manley International Airport to Miami International Airport between October 15 and December 15, 2008.
American Airlines (AA 1376) and British Airways (5106) led the way with 4.8 and 4.7 stars, respectively.
Air Jamaica has two flights on this route. One (JM 21) was rated third with 4.1 stars. The other flight (JM 8037) was rated ninth and last with 1.3 stars.
Flight JM 21 was operated 51 times, of which 92 per cent were on time. There was an average of 19 minutes for each delay, but a maximum of 137 minutes. Flight JM 8037, which had a 71 per cent on-time rating, had an average delay time of 34 minutes and a maximum of 78.
New York to Montego Bay
The second survey observed all airlines departing John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, between October 15 and December 15, 2008.
Air Jamaica led the pack for both the best and worst flights on this route. The first flight (JM 10) received a 4.3-star rating, was on time 88 per cent of the time and had an average delay time of only 16 minutes.
The flight that qualified as the worst flight on that route (JM 12), is obviously having some problems. According to the website, of 58 flights operated, only 41 per cent were on time. There was an average delay time of 54 minutes, but the maximum delay time was as much as 281 minutes!
Montego Bay to Fort Lauderdale
The third survey observed all airlines departing Sangster Inter-national Airport to Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida, between October 15 and December 15, 2008.
It was a five-horse race in which three Spirit Airlines stallions left Air Jamaica's two ponies in the dust.
Spirit Airlines' top flight (NK 268) was on time 90 per cent of the time and had an average delay time of only 6 minutes.
It may not be fair, however, to contrast Spirit Airlines with Air Jamaica on this route, as Spirit's three flights combined only made a total of 54 trips, while just one of Air Jamaica's flights made a whopping 61 trips.
According to the website, after observing 1,925 Air Jamaica flights between October 15 and December 15, 2008, the average delay time was more than 38 minutes. Some, though, may argue that Air Jamaica isn't doing that badly, as BW Caribbean Airlines, the national airline of Trinidad and Tobago had an average delay time of more than 40 minutes over the same period.
In Wednesday's Gleaner, Air Jamaica's president and CEO, Bruce Nobles defended the airline's performance. He said that while the airline might experience delays occasionally, it had been on schedule most times.
"Before I joined the company again last summer, operations were substantially worse than that, and so we have made serious strides," he said.
andrew.wildes@gleanerjm.com.