Nearly one in four flights nationwide were either delayed or cancelled from July 2024 to June 2025, according to data from the travel insurance company Squaremouth. The state-level data shows just how uneven the problem is. Squaremouth’s analysis of federal transportation records found that West Virginia had the highest share of disrupted flights, with 27.3 percent either delayed or canceled. New Jersey followed at 26.4 percent of all flights not leaving on time (or at all), driven largely by persistent problems at Newark Liberty International Airport.
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About 25% of Flights From These States Are Cancelled or Delayed
While national averages suggest widespread reliability issues, the gap between the worst states and the most dependable ones is wide enough to make you take a second look at where you’re flying from or making a connection in. No one wants to be left sitting on the tarmac, after all.
The states with the highest percent of flight disruptions
- West Virginia: 27.3 percent
- New Jersey: 26.4 percent
- Virginia: 23.8 percent
- Kansas: 23.8 percent
- Florida: 23.7 percent
- Pennsylvania: 23.6 percent
- Alabama: 23.6 percent
- Rhode Island: 23.4 percent
- South Carolina: 23.3 percent
- Iowa: 23.3 percent
Squaremouth analyzed Bureau of Transportation Statistics data for major US carriers from July 2024 through June 2025. For each airport, Squaremouth calculated the share of delayed and canceled flights as a percentage of total scheduled operations, then aggregated those results at the state level to produce comparative disruption rates. Low-cost carriers weren’t included in the data analysis.
Notably, the data set is from before when the government shutdown led to increased delays and cancellations.
Several states at the other end of the list posted disruption rates well below the national average. Hawaii (12.7 percent), Utah (15..6 percent), Idaho (17.5 percent), Oregon (18.1 percent), Montana (18.2 percent), and Arizona (18.2 percent) saw the fewest delays and cancellations.
Airport-level results show an equally uneven landscape, with a handful of airports driving a disproportionate share of delays. Orlando Sanford International and St. Petersburg–Clearwater International operate with tight runway capacity and limited slack in their daily schedules. Delays can escalate quickly when disruptive weather moves through Florida. Though, at the Orlando airport, only 1.6 percent of those flights were actually cancelled while 30.8 percent were delayed.
Aspen/Pitkin County in Colorado ranks high on the list for different reasons. Its single-runway mountain setting restricts visibility approaches and limits the types of aircraft that can operate safely in adverse conditions. Snow, wind, and low-ceiling days routinely force holds or diversions, magnifying the effect of relatively small weather events compared with larger, better-equipped airports.
New Jersey’s Newark Liberty, the only major hub in the group, faces chronic congestion. Its runway layout isn’t equipped to handle the demand, as the airport sits in one of the busiest air-traffic corridors in the country. Any ground delay, routing change, or weather impact ripples across a crowded schedule, impacting travelers from New York City and across the Northeast. 