The 15 US Airports With the Fewest Flight Delays in 2024

In 2024, roughly 78.5 percent of flights at major airports around the world departed and arrived on time. It’s an improvement, albeit a small one, over 2023, but a marked jump over 2022, when the rate was 76 percent. Two-and-a-half percent may not sound like a huge difference, but it represents more about 900,000 flights around the world.

The report analyzed which airports around the world will help you avoid this. Photo: Alex Brylov/Shutterstock

The report divides airports into large, medium, and small airports, plus a global category for massive airports that serve more than three global regions. In 2023, the most on-time airport in the world was in the US: Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minnesota. But in 2024, the top spot globally went to Riyadh King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. the country has made massive investments in infrastructure and tourism facilities in the last few years, and Saudia, the national airline of the country, topped the list of the most on-time airlines in the world.

Of the top 20 most on-time airports in the world in 2024, nine entries were in the US. Unfortunately, the average length of delay in the US was more than an hour (66.3 minutes, to be exact). The remaining 11 most on-time global airports around the world had an average delay of just 48 minutes.

Photo: Matyas Rehak/Shutterstock

For an airport to be considered global, per the Cirium report, it needs to have the capacity to serve at least 23 million flyers per year (meaning the combined number of seats on flights arriving to and departing from the airport needs to total at least 23 million), and must have data available for at least 80 percent of flights. It also needs to fly to at least three regions, such as North America, Asia, and Middle East/Africa. Airports that don’t meet that criteria are instead considered small, medium, or large.

1. Kansai International Airport, Japan: 79.85 percent on time (avg. delay: 48 mins)
2. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, AZ: 79.97 percent on time (avg. delay: 61 mins)
3. Tokyo Haneda International Airport, Japan: 79.97 percent on time (avg. delay: 34 mins)
4. Bogota El Dorado International Airport, Colombia: 80.11 percent on time (avg. delay: 54 mins)
5. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, GA: 80.15 percent on time (avg. delay: 62 mins)
6. Abu Dhabi Zayed International, UAE: 80.32 percent on time (avg. delay: 52 mins)
7. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, WA: 80.51 percent on time (avg. delay: 52 mins)
8. Philadelphia International Airport, PA: 80.75 percent on time (avg. delay: 77 mins)
9. Los Angeles International, CA: 81.06 percent on time (avg. delay: 65 mins)
10. Copenhagen Airport, Denmark: 81.37 percent on time (avg. delay: 44 mins)
11. Doha Hamad International Airport, Qatar: 81.38 percent on time (avg. delay: 48 mins)
12. Oslo Gardermoen Airport, Norway: 81.91 percent on time (avg. delay: 41 mins)
13. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, MI: 82.06 percent on time (avg. delay: 72 mins)
14. Washington Dulles International Airport, DC: 82.23 percent on time (avg. delay: 72 mins)
15. Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, MN: 82.27 percent on time (avg. delay: 68 mins)
16. Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport, Chile: 82.84 percent on time (avg. delay: 49 mins)
17. Salt Lake City International Airport, UT: 83.8 percent on time (avg. delay: 68 mins)
18. Mexico City Benito Juarez International Airport, Mexico: 84.04 percent on time (avg. delay: 57 mins)
19. Lima Jorge Chavez International Airport, Peru: 84.57 percent on time (avg. delay: 56 mins)
20. Riyadh King Khalid International Airport, Saudi Arabia: 86.65 percent on time (avg. delay: 50 mins)

Photo: DragonWen/Shutterstock

The airports above represent on-time statistics for the biggest airports in the world. But if you include small, medium, and large airports, the most on-time airport in the US isn’t Salt Lake City International. (In fact, it’s about 3,000 miles away.) Taking into account global, large, medium, and small airports in the US, there are the top spots where you’re least likely to encounter flight delays.

1. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, MI: 82.06 percent on time
2. Washington Dulles International Airport, DC: 82.23 percent on time
3. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, MN: 82.27 percent on time
4. New York LaGuardia Airport, NY: 82.39 percent on time
5. Sacramento International Airport, CA: 82.77 percent on time
6. Pittsburgh International Airport, PA: 83.49 percent on time
7. John Glenn Columbus International Airport, OH: 83.79 percent on time
8. Salt Lake City International Airport, UT: 83.8 percent on time
9. Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, KY: 83.9 percent on time
10. Indianapolis International Airport, IN: 83.93 percent on time
11. Will Rogers World Airport, OK: 84.31
12. Portland International Airport, OR: 84.86 percent on time
13. Honolulu International Airport, HI: 85.45 percent on time
14. Boise Air Terminal, ID: 86.21 percent on time
15. Ellison Onizuka Kona Intl Airport at Keahole, HI: 88.61 percent on time