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Planes flying in and out of the US are getting more punctual, new figures released by the country's Department of Transportation suggest.

According to its Air Travel Consumer Report, 19 of the biggest airlines recorded an on-time arrival rate of 79% in May of 2008.

This figure was an improvement on both the 77.7% of on-time arrivals disclosed in April and the 77.9% recorded in the same month last year.

The most punctual carrier was Hawaiian Airlines – with 88.9% of its flights arriving at their destination on time.

Also in the top three were Pinnacle Airlines with 85.9% of planes landing punctually and AirTran Airways whose passengers enjoyed arriving on time 84.7% of the time.

Scott Kirby, president of US Airways, which had an on-time arrival rate of 83.6% in May, said: 'Our 35,000 employees are doing what they do best, and that's taking care of our customers and getting them where they need to go on time.'

Figures from the Civil Aviation Authority show that in the UK, Emirates is the least punctual departing airline with only 38.3 per cent of flights leaving on time.

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