Finally, the airlines have something to celebrate. Airline delays fell in October. Carriers reported a 78.2 percent on-time arrival for October. Compared to the first 10 months of the year when the on-time performance was the second worst on record.

In October, 39.8 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, down from 40.4 percent in the same month last year, but up from 34.2 percent in September.

Despite the improved October results, about 24 percent of flights arrived late in the first 10 months of the year. The industry's on-time performance this year was the second worst since comparable data began being collected in 1995, coming in one-tenth of 1 percent better than the first 10 months of 2000.

Nearly 64 percent of flights on Atlantic Southeast Airlines were delayed in October. The Delta Connection carrier, which is owned by SkyWest Inc., had the lowest on-time arrival rate, followed by alaska airlines at 70.1 percent and Comair at 74.4 percent. Comair had three flights that were delayed by at least 15 minutes more than 90 percent of the time.

Still, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters on Monday said six airlines that operated chronically delayed flights in the first half of the year improved their performance in the third quarter and avoided fines of up to $25,000 per violation. The department in May began investigating flights that were at least 15 minutes late more than 70 percent of the time and identified 26 that met those criteria through the first six months of 2007.

"Tough scrutiny and a willingness to impose serious penalties have caused the airlines to correct these chronically delayed flights," Peters said in a release.

The airline data come on the heels of a storm system that delayed hundreds of flights into the New York City area's three main airports - John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia - for as long as two hours Sunday because of wind and ice. When the storm hit the Midwest on Saturday, airlines at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport canceled hundreds of flights, a scene mirrored at airports in Des Moines and Milwaukee.