Best U.S. Airports for On-Time Departures

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Which U.S. Airports are Best for On-Time Departures, with the shortest average departure delays? An interesting WSJ article ranked the best and worst U.S. airports along a number of dimensions grouped into reliability, value and convenience buckets, although frankly, as we almost never buy anything at the airport and are usually flying on award tickets booked with miles and points, the reliability metrics matter most to us.

And among the reliability factors, we're particularly focused on on-time departures and the lowest average departure delays for those flights that do depart late, so that's what we've pulled out to focus on here. The data are based on the 18 months to June 2022.

Best Airports for On-Time Departure

1. Portland PDX: 85%
2. Honolulu HNL: 85%
3. San Francisco SFO: 84%
4. Salt Lake City SLC: 84%
5. Minneapolis MSP: 83%
6. Seattle SEA: 83%
7. Detroit DTW: 83%
8. San Diego SAN: 83%
9. San Jose SJC: 83%
10. Atlanta ATL: 82%
11. Sacramento SMF: 82%
12. San Antonio SAT: 82%
13. Pittsburgh PTU: 82%
14. Los Angeles LAX: 81%
15. Charlotte CLT: 81%
16. Raleigh/Durham RDU: 81%
17. Kahului, Maui OGG: 81%
18. Kansas City MCI: 81%
19. Indianapolis IND: 81%
20. Philadelphia PHL: 80%
21. Santa Ana SNA: 80%
22. Oakland OAK: 80%
23. Cincinnati CVG: 80%
24. Houston IAH: 79%
25. Boston BOS: 79%
26. Phoenix PHX: 79%
27. Washington Dulles IAD 79%
28. Cleveland CLE: 79%
29. Chicago ORD: 78%
30. St. Louis STL: 78%
31. Washington DCA: 78%
32. New York LGA: 78%
33. Tampa TPA: 77%
34. Nashville BNA: 77%
35. New Orleans MSY: 77%
36. Austin AUS: 77%
37. Dallas DFW: 75%
38. New York JFK: 75%
39. Las Vegas LAS: 75%
40. Fort Myers RSW: 75%
41. Miami MIA: 74%
42. Fort Lauderdale FLL: 72%
43. Denver DEN: 72%
44. Orlando MCO: 72%
45. Newark EWR: 70%
46. Houston Hobby HOU: 70%
47. Baltimore BWI: 69%
48. Chicago Midway MDW: 68%
49. Dallas Love DAL: 66%

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Average Departure Delays (in Minutes)

1. Honolulu HNL: 8 min.
2. Seattle SEA: 10 min.
3. Portland PDX: 10 min.
4. San Jose SJC: 10 min.
5. Kahului OGG: 10 min.
6. Atlanta ATL: 11 min.
7. San Francisco SFO: 11 min.
8. Charlotte CLT: 11 min.
9. Salt Lake City SLC: 11 min.
10. Oakland OAK: 11 min.
11. Sacramento SMF: 11 min.
12. San Diego SAN: 11 min.
13. Minneapolis MSP: 12 min.
14. Santa Ana SNA: 12 min.
15. Pittsburgh PIT: 12 min.
16. Indianapolis IND: 12 min.
17. San Antonio SAT: 12 min.
18. Kansas City MCU: 12 min.
19. Los Angeles LAX: 13 min.
20. Detroit DTW: 13 min.
21. Cincinnati CVG: 13 min.
22. Phoenix PHX: 14 min.
23. Philadelphia PHL: 14 min.
24. Boston BOS: 14 min.
25. Chicago ORD: 14 min.
26. Raleigh RDU: 14 min.
27. St. Louis STL: 14 min.
28. Nashville BNA: 14 min.
29. Cleveland CLE: 14 min.
30. Washington Reagan DCA: 14 min.
31. Houston IAH: 15 min.
32. Las Vegas LAS: 15 min.
33. Washington Dulles IAD: 15 min.
34. Austin AUS: 15 min.
35. New Orleans MSY: 15 min.
36. Tampa TPA: 15 min.
37. New York LaGuardia LGA: 15 min.
38. Dallas DFW: 16 min.
39. Houston Hobby HOU: 16 min.
40. Denver DEN: 17 min.
41. Fort Myers RSW: 17 min.
42. Miami MIA: 18 min.
43. New York JFK: 18 min.
44. Baltimore BWI: 18 min.
45. Chicago Midway MDW: 18 min.
46. Fort Lauderdale FLL: 19 min.
47. Orlando MCO: 19 min.
48. Dallas Love DAL: 19 min.
49. Newark EWR: 20 min.

If your home airport and/or airports you frequently depart from are on these lists, are you surprised or not by their ranking?

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