Airport Reliability: On-Time Departures, Ranked
Which major US airports actually get flights out on time — on-time departure and cancellation rates from U.S. government data, ranked and updated monthly.
Everyone knows the airport they dread. Few can tell you how it actually performs. We aggregate the raw U.S. DOT on-time record by origin airport and rank the major US hubs on the number that governs a business trip: what share of flights leave on time. On-time departure rate sets your baseline; the airline you book moves it from there.
| Rank | Airport | On-time dep. | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Newark EWR | 87.2% | 0.93% |
| #2 | Salt Lake City SLC | 85.2% | 0.42% |
| #3 | New York JFK | 83.9% | 1.08% |
| #4 | Minneapolis MSP | 83.5% | 0.54% |
| #5 | Boston BOS | 82% | 0.61% |
| #6 | Detroit DTW | 81.3% | 1.27% |
| #7 | Philadelphia PHL | 80.8% | 1.09% |
| #8 | Seattle SEA | 80.2% | 0.41% |
| #9 | Los Angeles LAX | 79.6% | 0.54% |
| #10 | New York LGA | 78% | 1.83% |
| #11 | Atlanta ATL | 77.8% | 1.18% |
| #12 | Chicago ORD | 76.7% | 1.01% |
| #13 | Charlotte CLT | 76.7% | 0.3% |
| #14 | Washington DCA | 76.3% | 1.45% |
| #15 | Denver DEN | 76.1% | 0.28% |
| #16 | Miami MIA | 75.8% | 0.45% |
| #17 | Houston IAH | 75.5% | 0.46% |
| #18 | Orlando MCO | 75.5% | 0.7% |
| #19 | Phoenix PHX | 74.8% | 0.3% |
| #20 | Fort Lauderdale FLL | 74.6% | 0.53% |
| #21 | San Diego SAN | 74.3% | 0.66% |
| #22 | Tampa TPA | 74.3% | 0.68% |
| #23 | Baltimore BWI | 71.5% | 0.28% |
| #24 | Austin AUS | 71.5% | 0.91% |
| #25 | Dallas/Fort Worth DFW | 71.1% | 3.34% |
| #26 | Las Vegas LAS | 70.4% | 0.67% |
| #27 | Chicago MDW | 68.5% | 0.35% |
| #28 | San Francisco SFO | 68.3% | 0.79% |
| #29 | Nashville BNA | 65.6% | 0.57% |
| #30 | Dallas DAL | 57.8% | 1.69% |
On-time departure = flights that push back within 15 minutes of schedule. May 2026, computed from the U.S. DOT BTS on-time dataset, aggregated by origin airport. Major US airports only (≥6,000 scheduled departures in the month).
The Field Brief — one sharp travel-ROI note a week, written for the people who carry the quarter through airports. Free, unsubscribe anytime.