FlyerIntel Research
Late Flights That Run Past an Hour, by Airport
EWR is the airport where late arrivals run longest; HNL is where they run shortest.
Published October 18, 2026 · Source period July 2023 – July 2026
Summary
44.2% of the flights that landed late at EWR were an hour or more behind schedule, against 22.4% at HNL. Across 64 airports the middle airport’s share is 35.0%.
Key findings
- EWR has the highest share of late arrivals that ran an hour or more behind: 44.2% of 84,312 late arrivals.
- HNL has the lowest: 22.4% of 31,212 late arrivals.
- Pooled over the 64 airports, 35.7% of late arrivals were an hour or more behind, and 21.4% of arrivals were late at all.
- Across airports the late share and the long-delay share have a moderate link: a rank correlation of +0.4.
- 3 of the 12 airports with the highest long-delay share are also among the 12 with the highest late share.
How late is late
A late flight, by the Department of Transportation’s rule, is one that lands 15 or more minutes behind schedule. That covers a flight a quarter of an hour behind and one that is four hours behind. This report takes the late arrivals at 64 airports and asks what share of them were an hour or more behind. At EWR the share is 44.2%; at HNL it is 22.4%. Pooled, it is 35.7%.
Airports where late arrivals run longest
| # | Airport | City | Late arrivals an hour or more behind | Arrivals 15 or more minutes late | Late arrivals | An hour or more late |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EWR | Newark | 44.2% | 22.5% | 84,312 | 37,277 |
| 2 | JFK | New York | 41.6% | 22.3% | 76,001 | 31,611 |
| 3 | BOS | Boston | 41.4% | 24.7% | 106,339 | 44,023 |
| 4 | LGA | New York | 41.1% | 22.3% | 98,154 | 40,366 |
| 5 | DFW | Dallas–Fort Worth | 40.6% | 23.2% | 216,928 | 88,117 |
| 6 | DTW | Detroit | 40.1% | 18.7% | 71,710 | 28,728 |
| 7 | ORD | Chicago | 39.9% | 23.1% | 215,376 | 85,942 |
| 8 | PHL | Philadelphia | 39.5% | 23.4% | 69,601 | 27,516 |
| 9 | ABE | Allentown | 39.4% | 21.7% | 2,506 | 987 |
| 10 | CLT | Charlotte | 39.1% | 20.3% | 123,378 | 48,254 |
| 11 | MCO | Orlando | 38.6% | 24.4% | 119,294 | 46,055 |
| 12 | DCA | Washington | 38.1% | 24.5% | 103,188 | 39,351 |
The first rate is arrivals an hour or more behind schedule over arrivals 15 or more minutes behind. The second is arrivals 15 or more minutes behind over arrivals that completed. Both come from the airport’s arrival row.
Airports where late arrivals run shortest
| # | Airport | City | Late arrivals an hour or more behind | Arrivals 15 or more minutes late | Late arrivals | An hour or more late |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HNL | Honolulu | 22.4% | 17.0% | 31,212 | 6,988 |
| 2 | ANC | Anchorage | 23.5% | 21.9% | 12,663 | 2,974 |
| 3 | OAK | Oakland | 25.8% | 18.9% | 22,021 | 5,688 |
| 4 | SNA | Santa Ana | 26.2% | 17.8% | 24,143 | 6,314 |
| 5 | SEA | Seattle | 27.2% | 19.5% | 98,376 | 26,733 |
| 6 | HOU | Houston | 27.5% | 21.0% | 35,632 | 9,791 |
| 7 | SJC | San Jose | 27.8% | 18.2% | 26,581 | 7,389 |
| 8 | SAN | San Diego | 28.4% | 24.1% | 70,768 | 20,095 |
| 9 | SMF | Sacramento | 28.6% | 19.6% | 33,541 | 9,579 |
| 10 | ABQ | Albuquerque | 29.1% | 21.0% | 15,790 | 4,600 |
| 11 | BUR | Burbank | 29.4% | 19.7% | 18,208 | 5,346 |
| 12 | MDW | Chicago | 29.4% | 20.5% | 48,396 | 14,216 |
The same measure, lowest first. The first rate is arrivals an hour or more behind schedule over arrivals 15 or more minutes behind. The second is arrivals 15 or more minutes behind over arrivals that completed. Both come from the airport’s arrival row.
What this does not show
Arrivals are counted at the destination, so a flight is counted at the airport where it landed, whatever caused the delay at the other end. A share of late flights says how severe the late ones were, not how often an airport is late; the table prints both. The share has a different denominator from an on-time rate, so an airport with few late arrivals can show a high long-delay share from a handful of bad days. Airports are included with 5,000 scheduled arrivals and 1,000 late arrivals. Cancelled and diverted flights have no arrival time and are not in either rate.
Pages for what this report covers
Methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 21,708,321 individual flight records in the US Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance dataset, covering July 2023 through July 2026. Following BTS methodology, a flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after its scheduled arrival time. Cancelled and diverted flights have no arrival time and are excluded from on-time rates rather than counted as late; cancellation rates are reported separately. Full definitions are published at /methodology/. Each airport’s figures come from its arrival row in the airport aggregate. A flight is late at 15 or more minutes behind schedule and long-late at an hour or more; every long-late flight is also late. The long-delay share is long-late arrivals over late arrivals and the late share is late arrivals over completed arrivals, both on the same row. The rank correlation is Spearman, with ties given average ranks.
Limitations
The source dataset covers scheduled domestic flights operated by carriers above the DOT reporting threshold; smaller carriers and international flights are not included. Flights sold under a mainline brand but flown by a regional carrier are attributed to the operating carrier, which is how the DOT records them. Past performance describes what has happened and is not a prediction about any individual flight.
Sources
- FlyerIntel analysis — FlyerIntel · source
- Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance — US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics · source
Full FlyerIntel methodology · Report a problem with this analysis