Route profile
JFK→MSY
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New York to New Orleans, 1,182 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 26% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,598 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
JFK → MSY arrives on time 79.3% of the time; the return trip, MSY → JFK, arrives on time 75.9% of the time, a 3.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
JFK → MSY spends 35.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,182-mile trip: 27.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at JFK and 7.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSY.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 98% of 5,368 comparable routes.
80.3% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 80.2% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where JFK to MSY differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
JFK to MSY is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 78.3% arrive on time, 9.9 points ahead of the 68.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
JFK to MSY struggles most at 2 PM: 63.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.9 points behind the 73.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
JFK to MSY holds up on Wednesdays better than routes of similar length do: 85.1% on time to their 79.7%, a 5.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
March is kinder to JFK to MSY than to routes of similar length: 85.5% on time against 75.5%, 10 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
JetBlue does better on JFK to MSY than on its routes of similar length: 75.5% on time here, 70.4% there, 5.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
JFK to MSY against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 78.3% | routes of similar length | 68.4% | +9.9 pts | 1,119 here, 121,440 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 63.1% | routes of similar length | 73.0% | −9.9 pts | 168 here, 130,294 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 85.1% | routes of similar length | 79.7% | +5.4 pts | 482 here, 292,473 there |
| Month: March | 85.5% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | +10.0 pts | 276 here, 191,931 there |
| Airline: JetBlue | 75.5% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +5.1 pts | 1,311 here, 136,942 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 1,182 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 JFK → MSY flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
JFK → MSY cancelled 106 of 3,598 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 34. The reason filed most often was the airline, 40.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 84 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 106 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
43 cancellations, 40.6% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
43 cancellations, 40.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
20 cancellations, 18.9% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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.
106 coded cancellations were recorded on JFK → MSY; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
50 min late
against a median of 11 min early
JFK → MSY has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 11 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 3,598 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSY after arriving from JFK.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.3% | 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 2.95% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,484 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 50 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,598 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
JFK → MSY flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 82.9% of the time, against 67.1% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 15.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 86.6% on time from 136 flights
- 7 AM: 85.6% on time from 320 flights
- 8 AM: 81.8% on time from 1,307 flights
- 9 AM: 79.2% on time from 249 flights
- 10 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 63.1% on time from 178 flights
- 3 PM: 66.9% on time from 123 flights
- 4 PM: 78.3% on time from 1,148 flights
- 5 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why JFK → MSY runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 JFK → MSY. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 2,238 | 81.9% | 3.13% | -13 min | 7.2% |
| JetBlue | 1,350 | 75.5% | 2.67% | -7 min | 10.8% |
Delta Air Lines flew 62.4% of the 3,588 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 6.4 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL1368 (8:00 AM) arrived on time 85.3% of the time, 9.7 points more often than B675 (9:00 AM) at 75.6%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 73.6%
- Feb: 76.8%
- Mar: 85.5%
- Apr: 88.3%
- May: 76.1%
- Jun: 79.9%
- Jul: 67.6%
- Aug: 77.2%
- Sep: 80.4%
- Oct: 84.9%
- Nov: 86.6%
- Dec: 75.6%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 20.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (98)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (109)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (88)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2024: 71.5% from 124 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- October 2024: 89.3% from 121 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (84)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (99)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (92)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.3% against 80.2% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,598 JFK → 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
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