U.S. airlines’ on-time arrival performance improved in January, according to monthly federal data released Tuesday.

The 18 largest carriers reported that 78.7% of their flights arrived on time in January, better than both January 2009’s 77% and December 2009’s 72%, according to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Flights are considered on time if they arrive within 15 minutes of schedule.

The report says nearly 40% of the delays were directly or indirectly attributable to weather, including factors such as cancellations, aviation system delays and late-arriving aircraft.

Hawaiian Airlines, which flies mostly among the Hawaiian islands, once again posted the highest on-time performance with 86.7%. Among larger carriers, Alaska Airlines had the highest, at 85.8%. It was followed by United Airlines, which posted 83.7%.

American Airlines subsidiary American Eagle had the worst performance, with 72.8%.

There were 23 flights with tarmac delays of three hours or more, including two that exceeded four hours. Still, it was better than December, when airlines stranded 35 flights on the tarmac for three or more hours.

Delta Air Lines reported two of the longest tarmac delays in January. Its flight from Fort Myers, Fla., to New York LaGuardia on Jan. 25 sat on the runway for 4 hours and 13 minutes. Another Delta flight — from Charlotte to Atlanta on Jan. 24 — was delayed on the tarmac for 4 hours and 5 minutes. Under a new federal rule that takes effect on April 29, the airline will have to pay $27,500 per passenger for flights that are delayed on the tarmac for more than three hours.

Other findings from the report:

•Cancellations. The airlines canceled 12,800 flights out of 522,000 they operated in January, or down slightly from 14,700 in December.

•Mishandled baggage. U.S. carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.62 reports per 1,000 passengers in January, better than both January 2009’s 5.31 rate and December 2009’s 5.18 mark.

•Customer complaints. In January, the Transportation Department received 927 complaints about airline service from consumers, up from 885 in January 2009 and 692 in December 2009.

•Flight oversale. The airlines denied boarding to 69,200 passengers in 2009 out of about 582 million enplaned passengers. That compares with 64,000 out of 576 million in 2008.

By Roger Yu, USA TODAY