We’ve all been there.
Air travel delays are not a foreign concept to anyone.
But, according Places to Travel and data taken from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), of almost two million flights, one Alabama airport is among the worst in the nation when it comes to length of flight delays.
On the top ten list, Montgomery Regional Airport came in at No. 8 with an average flight delay of 1 hour and 23 minutes.
Montgomery saw a total of 404 flights delayed for a grand total of 33,565 minutes. This means that customers at the airport saw a full 23 days combined of delays.
Since many of the airports appearing on the list were massive international airports, their numbers were more highly inflated than Montgomery.
For example, Dallas Fort Worth came in at No. 3 on the list and had 66,105 delays out of 308,806 flights for an average of 1 hour and 29 minutes. This means that customers there saw 4,096 days worth of delays with over 21 percent of flights delayed.
“Interestingly, the data doesn’t show a clear trend with regard to the size of airports. People may be perhaps forgiven for thinking that due to the sheer number of flights arriving at some of the larger airports such as San Diego International or Nashville International, these larger airports would regularly be seeing far bigger delays,” said Jason Wilson, CEO of Places to Travel.
“However, the findings do still show that a massive number of flights are delayed, resulting in traveler stress and potential missed connections, among other consequences, and the air travel infrastructure needs to urgently adapt to handle the massive volumes of passengers to rectify this.”
Montgomery was the smallest airport to make the list, which makes it even more noteworthy that it appeared.
Source: Bureau of Transport Statistics
Methodology: Data for every domestic US carrier flight from January 2023 up until February 2024 was taken from the Bureau of Transport Statistics. Flights were then grouped by arrival airport, with the total number of minutes of delay experienced by each airport being divided by the total number of flights arriving at each airport, resulting in the average delay per flight. Airports with fewer than 365 flights over the time period were omitted so as not to skew the data, according to Places to Travel.
The full list can be viewed here:
| Rank | Airport | Total Delayed Minutes | Planes delayed | Average delay time |
| 1. | Provo Airport | 88,526 | 872 | 1 hour, 42 minutes and 31 seconds |
| 2. | Orlando Sanford International Airport | 259,681 | 2,766 | 1 hour, 34 minutes and 53 seconds |
| 3. | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | 5,896,245 | 66,105 | 1 hour, 29 minutes and 12 seconds |
| 4. | Charlotte Douglas International Airport | 3,588,090 | 40,963 | 1 hour, 28 minutes and 36 seconds |
| 5. | Philadelphia International Airport | 1,780,068 | 20,813 | 1 hour, 26 minutes and 32 seconds |
| 6. | John F. Kennedy International Airport | 2,758,287 | 32,815 | 1 hour, 24 minutes and 3 seconds |
| 7. | St. Pete-Clearwater International Aiport | 158,970 | 1,905 | 1 hour, 23 minutes and 27 seconds |
| 8. | Montgomery Regional Airport | 33,565 | 404 | 1 hour, 23 minutes and 5 seconds |
| 9. | Punta Gorda Airport | 157,266 | 1,898 | 1 hour, 23 minutes and 52 seconds |
| 10. | Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport | 115,403 | 1,421 | 1 hour, 21 minutes and 13 seconds |
“Interestingly, the data doesn’t show a clear trend with regard to the size of airports,” said Jason Wilson, CEO of Places to Travel.
“People may be perhaps forgiven for thinking that due to the sheer number of flights arriving at some of the larger airports such as San Diego International or Nashville International, these larger airports would regularly be seeing far bigger delays.”
“However, the findings do still show that a massive number of flights are delayed, resulting in traveler stress and potential missed connections, among other consequences, and the air travel infrastructure needs to urgently adapt to handle the massive volumes of passengers to rectify this,” Wilson said.
In response to Yellowhammer News publishing the data compiled by Places to Travel, a representative from Montgomery Regional Airport issued the following statement:
“MGM is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service, from parking to the gate in three minutes,” affirmed Wade A. Davis, C.M. Executive Director. “We aim to eliminate interstate drives, hassles, shuttles, and maintain great on-time performance by American and Delta airlines. We deeply appreciate the trust and confidence of our passengers and community. We are unwavering in our commitment to providing all with a safe and efficient travel experience.”
MGM continues to perform better than its peer airports. Additionally, the percentage of flights that leave MGM early during the period was over 65%. The national average for the U.S. Southern Region for Airport was 21.17% of flights delayed versus MGM’s 15.85%, the most relevant data point for air travelers. Amongst the top Alabama airports, the average departure delay time was 83 minutes versus MGM’s slightly higher average delay of 91 minutes. These are the data points that are most relevant to passengers.
*Sourced through the Bureau of Transportation Statistics provided by Airline Data, Inc.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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