US Flight Delays
Airports
All diagrams refer to data for year to date July 2022, unless otherwise specified
- Average on-time performance
- 77.9%
- decreased by-4.1% (2021)
- Best on-time performance
- 85.4%
- decreased by-3.4% (2021)
Airports ranked by number of flights
Hover to see full airport name and number of flights
While most people know of LAX (Los Angeles International) and JFK (John F. Kennedy), the airports handling the most flights are actually perhaps lesser known by people around the world.
The busiest airport by number of flights—ATL (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International)—is Delta Airlines' primary hub with over 1,000 flights per day to over 225 destinations.
Airports with the most on-time flights
Airports with over 10,000 flights a year, hover to see more precise on-time percentage
Salt Lake City International (SLC) handles the most on-time flights with over 88% of flights arriving within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival. SLC has historically consistently ranked high for on-time performance.
Airports with greater traffic are not absent from this chart. The aforementioned busiest airport, ATL, is ranked 2nd for timely flights.
What are the most on-time airports?
Airports with over 10,000 flights a year, hover to see airport and ranking
Interestingly, there are quite a few Hawaiian airports in these rankings, namely Kahului, Lihue and Ellison Onizuka Kona, each of which has appeared numerous times in the top 3.
As it stands, Salt Lake City International has the most on-time flights for 2022, followed by Hartsfield-Jackson and San Francisco International.
Airlines
All diagrams refer to data for year to date July 2022, unless otherwise specified
- Average on-time performance
- 78.4%
- decreased by-13.1% (2021)
- Best on-time performance
- 84.2%
- increased by1.2% (2021)
Number of flights and on-time performance
Hover to see airline, on-time percentage and number of flights operated
One may think that the more flights an airline operates, the more difficult it is to achieve better on-time performance. However, Allegiant Air operates a little over a tenth of the number flights of Southwest, yet has significantly worse on-time performance.
Overall, majority of airlines ensure at least 75% of their flights are on-time, although there is additional variation in performance for airlines operating fewer flights.
What are the most on-time airlines?
Hover to see airline and ranking
Hawaiian Airlines has previously been the most on-time US airline, however, since 2021, Endeavor Air has taken over that title. Alaska Airlines had also been consistently placed 2nd and 3rd before dropping out of the top 3 in 2019.
While we only have data for the year to July 2022, 2 new entrants are currently in 2nd and 3rd position for 2022—Horizon Air and Envoy Air. Curiously, all top 3 airlines in 2022 are regional airlines.
Time Period
Yearly flight delays
Hover charts to see detailed delay information, select a delay cause to focus on a specific one, click and drag on bottom chart to filter by time period
While carrier delays generally make up a lower proportion of delays than the National Aviation System—which covers non-extreme weather, airport operations, heavy traffic volume and air traffic control—they overall cause longer delays.