United had a record Fourth of July and here's why

For United Airlines, the Fourth of July was a reason to celebrate this year. At least on one count. The carrier Wednesday said it's on-time performance over the Fourth was the best ever since United Airlines and Continental Airlines merged six years ago. United said 72.2% of both mainline and regional flights arrived on time between July 1 and July 4. That was a 20.4% increase over results a year ago and a 48.7% increase over 2014. Noted Greg Hart, United's chief operations officer: "We are getting more customers to meetings, beaches and family gatherings on time than ever before in our combined company history." The carrier's on-time performance over the July Fourth holiday week caps six months of improving on-time performance at the Chicago-based carrier, especially within its mainline division. Improvement in regional flight on-time performance has proved more challenging.<br/>