At a time when air travel delays are rising and passenger satisfaction is falling, Hawai'i's airports and its top airline are winning recognition for superior performance.

A Forbes magazine study published on its Web site this week rated Hawai'i's airports as having among the fewest delays out of 100 airports surveyed nationwide. And Hawaiian Airlines was cited by the U.S. Department of Transportation as the domestic carrier with the best on-time arrival rate in April.

In the Forbes study, Hilo, Lihu'e and Kona airports were rated 1, 2 and 3 for fewest delays. Kahului was No. 5, and Honolulu No. 15. The study looked at six categories, including late aircraft, air traffic control, and cancellations.

"If you like to witness the miracle of smooth travel, fly to Hawai'i," the Forbes article said. "Three of its local airports ranked as the least time-draining, with minimal delays in each category and, in two cases, on-time departure and arrival rates of 90 percent or greater."

The report added, "And unlike most places, getting stranded in Hawai'i is more likely to be a blessing than a curse."

Chicago O'Hare International Airport ranked at the top of the list of "time-draining" airports, according to the Forbes analysis, which was based on 2007 statistics from the federal Bureau of Transportation.

"Chronic delays like these are nothing new, but as the national aviation system struggles under the weight of outdated infrastructure and the airline industry tries to cope with financial turmoil, congestion and delays worsen," the Forbes story said.

State Deputy Transportation Director Brian Sekiguchi said airport officials have made a concerted effort working with the Transportation Security Administration to improve the airport experience.

"It didn't happen by accident. A lot of folks took a situation that in 2002-3003 was pretty bad in terms of wait times and turned it around," Sekiguchi said.

"We went through a lot of growing pains. All the stake-holders — the concessionaires and the airlines — worked hard to fix the situation. Sustaining that now is the tough part."

In a separate report, the federal Department of Transportation said Hawaiian Airlines was the nation's most punctual airline in April, with nearly 91 percent of its flights arriving on time.

Nationwide, domestic airlines' on-time arrival rate improved in April, despite more than 3,900 flights canceled by American Airlines, according to the report.

More than 22 percent of commercial flights in the U.S. arrived late, were canceled or diverted in April, according to the Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

That is down from more than 24 percent of late flights in the same month last year and more than 28 percent in March.

The drop in delays — which was accompanied by declines in mishandled baggage and customer complaints — came despite many carriers being forced to ground flights in April amid unprecedented government scrutiny of airline maintenance issues.

AMR Corp.'s American, the nation's largest carrier, canceled 7.6 percent of its flights in April compared with an industry average of 1.7 percent, according to the government data.

American Airlines had the worst April with only 65 percent of its flights arriving on time, followed by UAL Corp.'s United Airlines at nearly 73 percent. Mesa Air Group Inc., the parent company of interisland carrier go!, was third worst with 73.2 percent of its flights arriving on time.

Still, the biggest cause of flight delays remains the weather, which accounted for nearly 38 percent of late flights in April, down from about 42 percent in the same month last year.

Reports of mishandled baggage improved in April to about 5 per 1,000 passengers from more than 6.3 per 1,000 passengers in the same month last year.

Passenger complaints also fell to 1,113 from 1,248 in the year-ago period.