Airlines had fewer long flight delays in November

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says flights were on-time more often in November than a year earlier, and only one U.S. passenger plane was stuck on the ground for more than three hours.


The Transportation Department said Thursday that 85.3 percent of flights landed within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival times, which is the government's standard for being on time. That's better than the airlines' performance in November 2010 but slightly worse than in October.


One American Airlines flight was stuck on the ground more than three hours, in violation of a 2010 regulation. In October there were 33 such long delays, all of them caused by an early snow storm.


A China Airlines jet was stuck more than four hours, exceeding the longer time limit for international flights.