According to the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transporation of Statistics, 20 airlines reported an on-time arrival rate of 81.7 percent in September. That's up 5 percent from a year ago and up 10 percent from August. However, the airlines do not have much to celebrate.

The bureau also reported by the airlines' industry's on-time performance remained the worst in 13 years. Of course, weather played a part in the delayed flights, accounting for 34 percent. The best on-time percentage went to Aloha Airlines with arrival rate of 95.4 percent. The worst? Atlantic Southeast Airlines with 63 percent of all flights delayed, including one of their flights from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach, delayed 90 percent.

Despite the improved September results more than 24 percent of flights arrived late in the first nine months of the year. The industry's on-time performance this year remained the worst since comparable data began being collected in 1995.

The statistics come amid increased concern about flight delays. Last month, federal aviation regulators held a two-day summit aimed at fixing "epidemic" delays at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport , which had the second-worst on-time arrival record of any major U.S. airport through September, followed by Newark's Liberty International Airport.

The latest government proposal to alleviate delays is to reduce JFK's hourly flight limit by 20 percent.

But the airline industry's trade group, the Air Transport Association, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs JFK, both prefer flight-path changes and improvements aimed at increasing the airport's capacity.

Customer complaints rose in September to 895 compared with 627 in the same month last year, according to the government data. But the rates of mishandled baggage fell to about 5.5 reports per 1,000 passengers from 8.3 reports a year ago.