ATL → MSY Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · ATLNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:52 UTC

Atlanta airport profile →

Destination · MSYNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

New Orleans airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

66/ 100Good

Better than 51% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 13,479 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

78.0%

10,364 of 13,285

Cancellation rate

1.25%

168 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-4 min

Average 8.4 min

Severe delays

6.9%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

60 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

13,479

4 carriers

ATL → MSY arrives on time 78.0% of the time; the return trip, MSY → ATL, arrives on time 82.0% of the time, a 4.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

ATL → MSY spends 22.4 minutes on the ground on a 425-mile trip: 16.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSY.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why ATL → MSY flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

ATL → MSY cancelled 168 of 13,479 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 80. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 51.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 155 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather51.8%

Airline46.4%

Security1.2%

Air traffic0.6%

Of 168 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 155

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

87 cancellations, 51.8% of the total.

The airline1 in 173

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

78 cancellations, 46.4% of the total.

Security1 in 6,740

A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.

2 cancellations, 1.2% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 13,479

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

1 cancellation, 0.6% of the total.

Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

168 coded cancellations were recorded on ATL → MSY; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

42 min late

against a median of 4 min early

Arrived an hour or more late6.9%

Typical delay when late60 min

Cancelled1.25%

Landed somewhere else0.19%

Percentiles over 13,479 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at MSY after arriving from ATL.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, ATL → MSY arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	39%	Likely to miss
45 min	21%	High risk
60 min	14%	Some risk
90 min	6.7%	Some risk
120 min	3.9%	Low 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 1.25% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 13,285 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 13,479 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

ATL → MSY flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.5% of the time, against 69.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.3 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (ATL).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 7.1 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 3.8 points.

On-time arrival rate for ATL to MSY by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 8 AM and after 11 PM (898 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for ATL to MSY. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
8 AM–9 AM	83.9% on time157 flights	91.9% on time164 flights	91.3% on time175 flights	92.4% on time172 flights	84.3% on time161 flights	87.2% on time137 flights	88.6% on time170 flights
9 AM–10 AM	84.6% on time120 flights	111 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	93 flights, too few to score	80.2% on time128 flights
10 AM–11 AM	80.0% on time125 flights	80 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	108 flights, too few to score	82.8% on time124 flights	68 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score
11 AM–12 PM	75.3% on time167 flights	91.2% on time186 flights	85.9% on time188 flights	87.3% on time171 flights	81.3% on time164 flights	81.6% on time161 flights	81.5% on time174 flights
12 PM–1 PM	57 flights, too few to score	70 flights, too few to score	58 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	56 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	75.2% on time146 flights	84.2% on time121 flights	87.8% on time124 flights	82.2% on time148 flights	81.2% on time151 flights	77.3% on time157 flights	78.6% on time148 flights
2 PM–3 PM	77.9% on time137 flights	70 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	79.9% on time140 flights	71.1% on time135 flights	56 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score
3 PM–4 PM	80.2% on time199 flights	81.8% on time200 flights	84.8% on time186 flights	75.6% on time202 flights	71.0% on time198 flights	82.1% on time202 flights	71.8% on time225 flights
4 PM–5 PM	97 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	101 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	69.6% on time160 flights	78.1% on time130 flights	77.3% on time129 flights	70.5% on time168 flights	70.9% on time160 flights	74.5% on time142 flights	74.5% on time166 flights
6 PM–7 PM	64 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	92 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score
7 PM–8 PM	70.3% on time157 flights	74.3% on time142 flights	77.3% on time143 flights	62.6% on time147 flights	66.0% on time153 flights	73.4% on time142 flights	58.8% on time134 flights
8 PM–9 PM	84 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	90 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score	92 flights, too few to score
9 PM–10 PM	67.2% on time124 flights	35 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	62.6% on time131 flights	60.8% on time124 flights	45 flights, too few to score	58.4% on time139 flights
10 PM–11 PM	110 flights, too few to score	79.2% on time121 flights	118 flights, too few to score	119 flights, too few to score	111 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	67.9% on time142 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM89.5%

9 AM–12 PM83.8%

12–3 PM80.5%

3–6 PM76.3%

6–9 PM69.2%

9 PM–5 AM69.8%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why ATL → MSY runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

The airline44.1%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Late-arriving aircraft33.8%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control15.0%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather7.1%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ATL → MSY. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of ATL to MSY: 3.3 times the normal rate at ATL and 2.4 times at MSY. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: ATL 3.4% against 1.0%, MSY 3.2% against 1.3%. Flights that did leave ATL in bad weather arrived on time 66.5% of the time, against 80.2% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from ATL and MSY in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	ATL	MSY
Cancelled in bad weather	3.4%	3.2%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.0%	1.3%
Arrived on time, bad weather	66.5%	69.4%
Arrived on time, normal hours	80.2%	79.5%
Departures in bad weather	105,854	12,426

Of the carriers on this route, Southwest Airlines (2.1% cancelled against 3.1% for the other carriers at ATL) cancelled the fewest departures from ATL in bad weather and Frontier Airlines (5.0% cancelled against 3.8% for the other carriers at ATL) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ATL

All departures from ATL

Cancellation rates in bad weather at ATL for the airlines that fly ATL to MSY, against the other carriers at ATL in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
Southwest Airlines	8,953	2.1%below the others	3.1%
Delta Air Lines	73,919	3.5%about level	3.6%
Spirit Airlines	2,965	3.9%above the others	3.2%
Frontier Airlines	4,928	5.0%above the others	3.8%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from ATL and MSY, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from ATL on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: ATL (airlines), MSY, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Delta Air Lines	9,883	79.3%	1.36%	-4 min	6.3%
Southwest Airlines	2,091	76.6%	0.53%	-1 min	6.1%
Spirit Airlines	1,129	73.9%	1.33%	-4 min	10.5%
Frontier Airlines	373	63.6%	2.14%	4 min	15.3%

Delta Air Lines flew 73.3% of the 13,476 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.14% of its flights here against 0.53% for Southwest Airlines.

Delta Air Lines arrived on time 15.7 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
DL2224 Delta Air Lines	11:00 PM	1,091	75.0%
DL2542 Delta Air Lines	11:05 AM	1,074	83.2%
DL3128 Delta Air Lines	8:30 AM	726	90.6%
DL1450 Delta Air Lines	7:59 PM	676	69.2%

DL3128 (8:30 AM) arrived on time 90.6% of the time, 21.4 points more often than DL1450 (7:59 PM) at 69.2%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon76.8%

Tue82.9%

Wed84.3%

Thu77.6%

Fri74.2%

Sat78.8%

Sun73.1%

Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.2 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 23.1 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.1% against 75.9% in the 12 months before — improving by 5.2 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 13,479 ATL → MSY 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

ATL airport MSY airport Return direction MSY → ATL

ATL→MSY

Right now

Route reliability

Why ATL → MSY flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why ATL → MSY runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ATL

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology