In CY2024, hub airports averaged a 20.8% departure delay rate (20.9% for arrivals). Out of 6,653,159 reportable departures, 1,385,127 left ≥15 minutes late—roughly 1 in every 5 flights.
The scatter plot shows no strong linear relationship between airport size and delay rate. Several large hubs maintain below-average delay rates despite processing tens of millions of passengers, while some smaller hubs exceed 25%. Operational discipline matters more than volume alone.
Of all delay minutes at hub airports, 75.1% trace to controllable causes—airline-driven carrier delays and late-arriving aircraft cascading through the network. Weather accounts for just 5.6%, while NAS/ATC constraints represent 19.2%.
Island and West Coast airports lead on punctuality. Pacific island airports (GUM 8.3%, ITO 10.3%, KOA 11.2%) post the lowest raw delay rates, driven by limited connecting traffic and favorable conditions — GUM carries only 726 BTS-reported departures and should be interpreted cautiously. Among well-trafficked airports, HNL, PDX, SJC, and IAD combine strong on-time performance with high volume.
Airports where the departure rate exceeds the arrival rate are net delay generators—they send proportionally more late flights than they receive. The inverse often reflects connecting-flight propagation from elsewhere in the network. The two measures capture different flight populations and cannot be used to infer in-flight schedule recovery.
Delays caused by circumstances within the airline’s control — maintenance, crew availability, aircraft cleaning, baggage loading, or fueling.
The inbound aircraft arrived late from a prior flight, leaving insufficient turnaround time. Delays cascade through the network as the same plane serves multiple legs.
National Airspace System delays — non-extreme weather, heavy traffic volume, air traffic control, or temporary flight restrictions impacting the broader airspace.
Significant meteorological conditions — storms, fog, ice, or wind — that directly prevent safe departure or arrival, as determined by the carrier or ATC.
Delays caused by TSA screening, terminal evacuations, re-boarding due to security breaches, or other security-related holds at the gate or checkpoint.
All Hub Airports — Full Comparison
CY2024 operational metrics for all 140 hub airports. Click any column header to sort.
| Code | Airport | Hub | State | CY24 Enplanements | Dep Flights | Arr Flights | Dep Delay % | Arr Delay % | Dep–Arr Gap | Controllable % ℹ |
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★ GPI (Glacier Park Intl), HVN (Tweed-New Haven), and IWA (Phoenix–Mesa Gateway) are not served by BTS-reporting carriers. ⚠ GUM (Guam Intl) has only 726 BTS-reported departures for CY2024 (≈2/day from reporting carriers); interpret its metrics with caution. Dep–Arr Gap: positive = more delays departing than arriving (net delay generator); negative = more delays arriving than departing. Controllable % based on departure delay minutes only.