30 major US airports with the most departure delays, ranked

LAX is one of the top airports in the US with departure delays. Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images Flights are considered on time if they depart from the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Salt Lake City International Airport had the highest on-time departure performance. Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had the lowest. If you're hoping to get to your destination on time, the airport you fly from could make a difference. The following ranking is based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics data of major airports' on-time departure performance, covering January through June 2026. The BTS has compiled this data from monthly on-time reports filed by US passenger airlines. A flight is considered on time if it departs from the gate less than 15 minutes after its scheduled departure time. To provide context on airport scale and airline mix, additional information for each airport has also been compiled from BTS. The number of scheduled flights for departures covers the 12 months ending May 2026. The top carriers also cover the period from June 2025 to May 2026 and are calculated based on passenger shares for both arrivals and departures. It's important to note that delays at many of these airports are contingent on weather conditions, such as hurricanes in Florida, New England snowstorms, and Arizona's heat. That could explain why some of these airports are on this list. Here are the 30 major US airports ranked by on-time departure performance, from best to worst: 30. Salt Lake City On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 83.73% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 121,882 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Delta 56.35%, SkyWest (15.98%), Southwest (10.42%) 29. Washington Dulles On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 82.20% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 96,869 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: United (58.85%), Mesa (5.67%), Delta (3.88%) 28. Seattle-Tacoma On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 79.66% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 188,049 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Alaska (48.63%), Delta (19.70%), SkyWest (7.68%) 27. Minneapolis-Saint Paul On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 79.03% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 142,608 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Delta (56.73%), SkyWest (9.31%), Endeavor (5.79%) 26. Newark Liberty On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 79.02% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 138,322 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: United (60.12%), Spirit* (7.57%), American (5.70%) *Spirit Airlines is no longer operating and ceased operations in May 2026. 25. George On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 79.01% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 173,551 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: United (56.94%), Mesa (9.87%), Spirit (5.62%) 24. Los Angeles On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 78.76% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 201,013 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Delta (22.38%), United (18.69%), American (17.69%) 23. Hartsfield-Jackson On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 77.44% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 348,958 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Delta (74.72%), Frontier (7.00%), Southwest (4.53%) 22. Philadelphia International Airport At Philadelphia International Airport, the airline with the biggest passenger carrier share by far is American. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 77.08% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 130,566 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: American (47.43%), Frontier (11.83%), Delta (6.43%) 21. John F. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 76.38% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 124,603 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Delta (33.27%), JetBlue (30.54%), American (12.85%) 20. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport The air traffic control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 76.18% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 208,792 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (34.51%), American (32.75%), Delta (6.95%) 19. Denver On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 76.14% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 326,928 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: United (40.69%), Southwest (30.40%), Frontier (9.85%) 18. Boston Logan International Airport Boston Logan On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 76.07% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 161,772 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: JetBlue (27.10%), Delta (22.14%), American (13.93%) 17. Tampa On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 75.85% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 84,484 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (25.57%), Delta (19.29%), American (16.71%) 16. Detroit Metropolitan On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 75.80% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 144,924 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Delta (54.32%), SkyWest (10.44%), Spirit (9.56%) 15. Charlotte On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 75.57% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 237,042 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: American (67.78%), Delta (2.15%), Frontier (1.93%) 14. San Diego On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 74.04% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 104,990 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (35.48%), Alaska (13.50%), United (12.24%) 13. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport The South Terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 73.52% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 91,854 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (42.29%), Delta (15.73%), American (14.66%) 12. San Francisco International Airport A view of the welcome sign at San Francisco International Airport. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 73.42% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 149,754 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: United (47.38%), Delta (10.62%), SkyWest (9.85%) 11. Harry Reid International Airport Harry Reid International Airport is located in Las Vegas. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 73.21% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 181,954 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (44.34%), Delta (10.06%), United (8.98%) 10. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 72.96% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 115,040 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: American (61.27%), Delta (11.87%), United (6.61%) 9. LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia is located in Queens, New York City. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 72.09% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 159,367 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Delta (25.19%), American (14.82%), Endeavor (10.27%) 8. Orlando On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 71.79% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 169,849 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (26.49%), Delta (14.40%), Frontier (12.26%) 7. Chicago O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International is one of the world's busiest airports. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 71.03% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 384,095 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: United (38.55%), American (22.70%), SkyWest (9.88%) 6. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 70.74% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 96,660 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (73.15%), Delta (6.02%), Spirit (4.86%) 5. Nashville On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 69.97% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 112,706 Top carriers in June 2025*: Southwest (50.1%), American (14.8%), Delta (13.3%). *BTS does not have information on Nashville International's top carriers. Instead, this data has been collated from the airport's annual report, which shows average daily scheduled arrivals and departures for June 2025. 4. Ronald Reagan Washington On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 69.87% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 141,917 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: American (27.59%), Southwest (14.03%), Delta (9.59%) 3. Chicago Midway International Airport By far the largest carrier by passenger share at Chicago Midway is Southwest. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 69.30% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 74,133 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Southwest (93.52%), Frontier (3.11%), Delta (1.58%) 2. Dallas Fort On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 68.22% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 315,953 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: American (66.69%), Envoy Air (10.79%), Frontier (4.64%) 1. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had the lowest on-time departure rate. On-time departure rate, January-June 2026: 66.39% Scheduled flights, June 2025-May 2026: 91,994 Top carriers, June 2025-May 2026: Spirit (23.13%), JetBlue (21.61%), Delta (15.53%) Read the original article on Business Insider

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