Major American airlines are on track for their worst tardiness record ever since the U.S. government started keeping track of their performance more than a decade ago.

Only 68.1 per cent of flights were on time in June, the ninth worst month on record, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday in its Air Travel Consumer Report. 

Looking at the first six months of the year, only 72.65 per cent of flights were on time. If that trend continues, 2007 would be the worst year for on-time flights since the agency started keeping track in 1995.

From January to June, more than 909,000 U.S. flights were delayed by at least 15 minutes, and 93,000 were cancelled altogether.

Over the six months, there were 6,151 consumer complaints about lost luggage, late flights and travel-related problems, a jump of 50 per cent over the same period in 2006.

The airlines with the highest rate of cancelled flights were Mesa Airlines at 6.4 per cent, American Eagle Airlines at 5.9 per cent and Northwest Airlines at 5.3 per cent.

Some of the tardiness was because of bad weather, but also to blame is the rise in overall plane passenger capacity of both smaller regional jets and major airlines. 

Old tracking systems to blame

The U.S. still only uses radar to follow planes, whereas Canada uses radar and satellite GPS systems. 

David Castleveter from the Air Transport Association of America, which represents U.S. airlines, told CBC News that "the U.S. is not only falling behind Canada, but the United Kingdom, Australia and some other countries. We have an air traffic control system that was introduced in the 1950s and has not been modernized since."

'We have an air traffic control system that was introduced in the 1950s and has not been modernized since.'—David Castleveter, Air Transport Association of America

Canada's satellite system means that we don't have as many flight delays as they have south of the border and our technology is being improved.

"Recently in Vancouver we introduced some new technology that takes advantage of the GPS technology. We're already seeing an impact," Ron Singer, NAV Canada, told CBC News.

The U.S. airline industry is actively pushing for a new tracking system. Even if it were approved today, it would take almost 20 years to create and cost more than $30 billion.