Route profile
ABQ→DFW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Albuquerque to Dallas–Fort Worth, 569 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 19% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,376 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
ABQ → DFW arrives on time 78.4% of the time; the return trip, DFW → ABQ, arrives on time 70.1% of the time, an 8.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ABQ → DFW spends 27.4 minutes on the ground on a 569-mile trip: 14.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ABQ and 12.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at DFW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 96% of 2,692 comparable routes.
American Airlines (78.6% on time) and Envoy Air (77.8%) are close together here.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ABQ to DFW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ABQ to DFW struggles most at 5 PM: 61.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9 points behind the 70.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
Saturday is the day ABQ to DFW slips furthest against routes of similar length, 74.9% on time where they average 79.9%, 5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.2 points.
In November, ABQ to DFW runs 7.2 points below routes of similar length, 77.0% on time to 84.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
July is kinder to ABQ to DFW than to routes of similar length: 74.3% on time against 69.9%, 4.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
American Airlines does better on ABQ to DFW than on its routes of similar length: 78.6% on time here, 74.8% there, 3.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.5 points.
ABQ to DFW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 61.7% | routes of similar length | 70.7% | −9.0 pts | 640 here, 127,166 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 74.9% | routes of similar length | 79.9% | −5.0 pts | 990 here, 234,581 there |
| Month: November | 77.0% | routes of similar length | 84.2% | −7.2 pts | 539 here, 153,101 there |
| Month: July | 74.3% | routes of similar length | 69.9% | +4.4 pts | 899 here, 209,489 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 78.6% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | +3.8 pts | 5,811 here, 322,284 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 569 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why ABQ → DFW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ABQ → DFW cancelled 193 of 7,376 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 38. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 87.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 44 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 193 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
168 cancellations, 87.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
18 cancellations, 9.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
6 cancellations, 3.1% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
1 cancellation, 0.5% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
193 coded cancellations were recorded on ABQ → DFW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
54 min late
against a median of 7 min early
ABQ → DFW has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 7 min early, but the worst tenth are 61 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 7,376 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DFW after arriving from ABQ.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 9.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.3% | Some risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 2.62% of the time and diverts 0.33% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,159 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 54 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,376 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ABQ → DFW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.6% of the time, against 63.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 23.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 91.0% on time from 773 flights
- 6 AM: 84.6% on time from 868 flights
- 7 AM: 86.0% on time from 237 flights
- 8 AM: 85.0% on time from 1,026 flights
- 9 AM: 82.1% on time from 126 flights
- 10 AM: 82.0% on time from 942 flights
- 11 AM: 79.5% on time from 494 flights
- 12 PM: 74.8% on time from 521 flights
- 1 PM: 76.5% on time from 431 flights
- 2 PM: 72.7% on time from 358 flights
- 3 PM: 69.4% on time from 222 flights
- 4 PM: 62.2% on time from 491 flights
- 5 PM: 61.7% on time from 668 flights
- 6 PM: 66.8% on time from 187 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why ABQ → DFW runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ABQ → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ABQ → DFW, at 45.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.6% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 63.2%.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 5,997 | 78.6% | 2.80% | -7 min | 9.4% |
| Envoy Air | 1,171 | 77.8% | 1.88% | -6 min | 8.1% |
American Airlines flew 83.7% of the 7,168 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 7.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.0%
- Feb: 84.5%
- Mar: 78.7%
- Apr: 73.2%
- May: 76.4%
- Jun: 74.4%
- Jul: 74.3%
- Aug: 77.6%
- Sep: 83.6%
- Oct: 83.0%
- Nov: 77.0%
- Dec: 82.0%
April is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 11.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.1% from 212 flights
- August 2023: 86.4% from 217 flights
- September 2023: 85.7% from 203 flights
- October 2023: 81.0% from 187 flights
- November 2023: 79.1% from 172 flights
- December 2023: 85.1% from 181 flights
- January 2024: 69.4% from 186 flights
- February 2024: 78.5% from 172 flights
- March 2024: 71.2% from 181 flights
- April 2024: 73.2% from 166 flights
- May 2024: 73.2% from 211 flights
- June 2024: 77.4% from 222 flights
- July 2024: 68.3% from 228 flights
- August 2024: 74.7% from 239 flights
- September 2024: 87.7% from 211 flights
- October 2024: 83.8% from 229 flights
- November 2024: 79.2% from 203 flights
- December 2024: 83.3% from 212 flights
- January 2025: 85.1% from 193 flights
- February 2025: 87.3% from 184 flights
- March 2025: 79.9% from 191 flights
- April 2025: 61.4% from 208 flights
- May 2025: 76.5% from 209 flights
- June 2025: 71.4% from 236 flights
- July 2025: 77.4% from 245 flights
- August 2025: 72.1% from 230 flights
- September 2025: 76.8% from 190 flights
- October 2025: 83.8% from 201 flights
- November 2025: 72.4% from 175 flights
- December 2025: 77.2% from 171 flights
- January 2026: 83.3% from 154 flights
- February 2026: 88.3% from 146 flights
- March 2026: 85.3% from 173 flights
- April 2026: 86.4% from 177 flights
- May 2026: 79.4% from 204 flights
- June 2026: 74.6% from 227 flights
- July 2026: 78.1% from 230 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.3% against 78.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,376 ABQ → DFW flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed