Route profile
MSY→MSP
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New Orleans to Minneapolis, 1,039 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 72% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,303 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSY → MSP arrives on time 84.7% of the time; the return trip, MSP → MSY, arrives on time 86.0% of the time.
MSY → MSP spends 20.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,039-mile trip: 12.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSY and 7.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSP.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 98% of 4,023 comparable routes.
86.3% on time for 12–3 PM departures, against 81.9% for 3–6 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MSY to MSP differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSY to MSP is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 85.8% arrive on time, 18.8 points ahead of the 67.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 17.2 points.
MSY to MSP holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 86.6% on time to their 73.1%, a 13.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on MSY to MSP than on its routes of similar length: 84.7% on time here, 80.6% there, 4.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.2 points.
MSY to MSP against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 85.8% | routes of similar length | 67.0% | +18.8 pts | 219 here, 177,300 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | +13.5 pts | 186 here, 417,197 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 84.7% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | +4.1 pts | 1,275 here, 448,454 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 1,039 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
32 min late
against a median of 11 min early
Percentiles over 1,303 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSP after arriving from MSY.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 27% | High risk |
| 45 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | 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 1.53% of the time and diverts 0.38% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,278 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 32 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,303 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSY → MSP flights departing 12–3 PM arrived on time 86.3% of the time, against 81.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 4.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 82.7% on time from 187 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 88.3% on time from 262 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 81.8% on time from 433 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 85.8% on time from 224 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MSY → MSP 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MSY → MSP. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MSY → MSP, at 44.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, though departure time makes little difference here: the best and worst windows are 4 points apart.
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 | 1,300 | 84.7% | 1.54% | -11 min | 5.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 5.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.4% against 84.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,303 MSY → MSP 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