Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner says that ticketed passengers on the airline’s Thursday night flight, that was delayed until last night due to tropical cyclone Evan, “will be permitted  to change their reservation without charge, provided the changes are made no later than December 24, 2012.

“All change fees and applicable difference in fares will be waived provided that changes are made in the same cabin of service,” said Wagner via e-mail from Honolulu on Thursday afternoon. “And for flights cancelled as a result of this storm, Hawaiian will provide refunds upon request with fee waived.”

Last night’s Hawaiian flight was to arrive and depart using the same schedule as Thursday’s regular flight.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report for October gave the Honolulu-based carrier the highest marks for best on-time performance and fewest canceled flights, among the nation’s 15 largest carriers.

Hawaiian’s flights arrived on schedule 94.8 percent of the time throughout October, which was 14.6 percentage points better than the industry average, earning the DOT’s #1 ranking for on-time performance, according to the report as well as a media statement from the airline.

In addition, the USDOT reported that Hawaiian ranked first overall in the category of fewest flight cancellations for October at 0.2 percent, representing 12 cancellations out of of 6,204 total flights.