Recession causes air travel quality to increase: report

The list of positives this recession has left us is short, and looks something like this:

-No awkward office parties (because you’ve been laid-off)
-No pesky car payments (because it was repossessed), and
-Fewer costly mortgage payments (since you were forced to start living in a dumpster)

But, hey, get a load of this!

As an apparent result of the downturn, on-time performance for flights in North America has actually improved, according to a new report analyzing air travel trends in the U.S.

The study outlines how – because America experienced its “first annualized drop” in air travel last year since 9/11 – flight quality was able to progress since fewer people were flying with much less frequency.

The report also advises that, if you want to avoid delays, steer clear of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta and San Francisco.

Those six metropolitan hubs experienced the worst delays of any airports in the country.

Of course, none of this is rocket science, and that’s why the report’s conclusions shouldn’t shock you either.

It predicts – as if to remind us we’ll never be able to get it right – that once the economy fixes itself, it’ll be right back to the high-congestion hell in the skies we’ve been used to:

“The return of economic growth will resume the boost in travelers, a concomitant decline in on-time performance, and the hyperconcentration of U.S. air travel within major metropolitan areas and among flights traveling short distances.”

So, if you want to maintain the easy-as-it-goes air travel seen in months past, simply make sure everyone stays unemployed, I guess.

By Jason Buckland, MSN Money