Carrier performance at one airport
DL→MSP
Delta Air Lines at Minneapolis-St Paul International
- Departures
- 64,705
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 25
- Rank here
- #5 of 10
Delta Air Lines at Minneapolis lands a B, 2 points better than the national rate of 77.3%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 64,705 flights, of which Alaska Airlines flew 1,247 at 82.7% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Delta Air Lines runs half a point ahead of the 79.2% weighted average across all carriers at MSP. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
79.4%
63,755 completed departures
Avg delay
61 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.19%
At MSP, this carrier only
Rank here
#5
Of 10 carriers clearing the floor at MSP
These figures cover 65,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 7 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
Against the competition
Every carrier at MSP, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Alaska Airlines arrives on time 82.7% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 72.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,301 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 1,247 | 82.7% | 68 min | 1.20% | B |
| Republic Airways | 1,402 | 80.4% | 88 min | 6.56% | B− |
| SkyWest Airlines | 28,179 | 80.0% | 87 min | 1.51% | B |
| American Airlines | 4,212 | 79.5% | 100 min | 2.02% | B |
| Delta Air Lines (this page) | 64,705 | 79.4% | 61 min | 1.19% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 5,695 | 78.9% | 53 min | 0.97% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 5,436 | 75.7% | 83 min | 1.32% | B |
| PSA Airlines | 1,188 | 74.0% | 137 min | 6.40% | C− |
| Envoy Air | 1,233 | 73.9% | 69 min | 3.16% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,301 | 72.2% | 95 min | 1.46% | C |
Republic Airways cancels 6.6% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Where Delta Air Lines flies from MSP
Delta Air Lines operates 25 routes out of MSP with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSP to ATL · Atlanta | 3,207 | 83.6% | 67 min | 0.47% | B+ |
| MSP to LAX · Los Angeles | 2,107 | 81.5% | 52 min | 1.00% | B |
| MSP to PHX · Phoenix | 2,044 | 79.5% | 63 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| MSP to LAS · Las Vegas | 1,951 | 79.9% | 63 min | 1.08% | B |
| MSP to DTW · Detroit | 1,881 | 82.8% | 59 min | 0.58% | B+ |
| MSP to MCO · Orlando | 1,859 | 75.6% | 76 min | 1.40% | B |
| MSP to BOS · Boston | 1,849 | 76.4% | 61 min | 1.19% | B |
| MSP to LGA · New York | 1,809 | 78.8% | 67 min | 2.93% | B |
| MSP to DEN · Denver | 1,795 | 76.3% | 56 min | 1.06% | B |
| MSP to SEA · Seattle | 1,745 | 80.6% | 59 min | 0.86% | B+ |
| MSP to DCA · Washington | 1,701 | 75.9% | 61 min | 1.94% | B |
| MSP to SLC · Salt Lake City | 1,616 | 85.1% | 50 min | 0.43% | A+ |
| MSP to SFO · San Francisco | 1,449 | 65.4% | 50 min | 0.76% | C+ |
| MSP to ORD · Chicago | 1,425 | 67.6% | 72 min | 2.53% | C |
| MSP to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 1,413 | 79.6% | 56 min | 1.49% | B |
| MSP to PDX · Portland | 1,332 | 81.4% | 51 min | 0.53% | B+ |
| MSP to SAN · San Diego | 1,300 | 77.6% | 46 min | 0.85% | B+ |
| MSP to IAH · Houston | 1,278 | 79.7% | 62 min | 0.94% | B+ |
| MSP to EWR · Newark | 1,240 | 78.1% | 68 min | 4.44% | B− |
| MSP to RDU · Raleigh | 1,228 | 82.8% | 56 min | 1.06% | B |
| MSP to BNA · Nashville | 1,220 | 82.9% | 48 min | 1.80% | B |
| MSP to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,217 | 81.3% | 75 min | 2.88% | B |
| MSP to RSW · Fort Myers | 1,205 | 77.7% | 68 min | 1.24% | B |
| MSP to CLT · Charlotte | 1,189 | 80.1% | 70 min | 1.18% | B |
| MSP to TPA · Tampa | 1,167 | 80.1% | 66 min | 1.03% | B |
Flight by flight
Delta Air Lines flight numbers from MSP
117 Delta Air Lines flight numbers leaving MSP flew their main route often enough to have a record of their own. Grouped by destination.
- DL 1026to ATL 18:1077.1%
- DL 1028to ATL 16:3379.2%
- DL 1036to ATL 15:5081.6%
- DL 1039to ATL 07:0090.6%
- DL 1046to ATL 10:0084.3%
- DL 1048to ATL 12:4578.2%
- DL 1052to ATL 08:5590.6%
- DL 1062to ATL 05:2092.0%
- DL 2749to AUS 19:4577.2%
- DL 2007to BDL 10:2084.5%
- DL 2871to BDL 20:1577.0%
- DL 2941to BIL 22:2078.9%
- DL 1144to BNA 19:4577.5%
- DL 2612to BNA 15:2977.0%
- DL 2488to BOI 18:4574.7%
- DL 2982to BOI 11:5985.2%
- DL 2558to BOS 13:2070.0%
- DL 2591to BOS 15:1565.1%
- DL 2614to BOS 19:5976.7%
- DL 2649to BOS 06:5589.5%
- DL 2655to BOS 10:0581.6%
- DL 2918to BWI 19:4578.8%
- DL 1226to BZN 08:5085.4%
- DL 2954to BZN 18:4072.0%
- DL 2463to CHS 10:3085.7%
- DL 2819to CLT 12:5080.4%
- DL 2929to CLT 19:4574.9%
- DL 1356to CMH 20:1574.2%
- DL 1469to CVG 20:2077.6%
- DL 2958to DCA 07:3583.7%
- DL 2961to DCA 20:0069.3%
- DL 2962to DCA 18:3764.0%
- DL 2963to DCA 14:3376.0%
- DL 2983to DCA 10:0584.1%
- DL 1025to DEN 14:2778.7%
- DL 2849to DEN 08:5580.2%
- DL 2931to DEN 18:4565.4%
- DL 2967to DFW 19:5075.9%
- DL 2970to DFW 10:0083.0%
- DL 2971to DFW 14:5074.8%
- DL 2972to DFW 06:5584.6%
- DL 1433to DTW 09:0088.1%
- DL 1461to DTW 06:0093.6%
- DL 1476to DTW 15:5578.8%
- DL 1484to DTW 19:4566.2%
- DL 1519to DTW 12:4589.3%
- DL 2846to EWR 20:1571.4%
- DL 2864to EWR 07:1090.0%
- DL 2295to FAR 22:4580.6%
- DL 2575to FCA 12:3579.8%
- DL 2418to GEG 21:5975.4%
- DL 2437to GEG 11:5988.1%
- DL 1711to GRR 21:4074.6%
- DL 312to HNL 10:1082.4%
- DL 2644to IAH 14:4579.0%
- DL 2656to IAH 07:0586.8%
- DL 2683to IAH 18:4072.7%
- DL 674to IND 20:2576.2%
- DL 2661to JFK 12:5980.2%
- DL 2969to JFK 06:5587.4%
- DL 2238to LAS 11:0079.2%
- DL 2246to LAS 18:5064.5%
- DL 2261to LAS 07:0089.1%
- DL 2262to LAS 09:1384.2%
- DL 2102to LAX 09:1582.8%
- DL 2103to LAX 21:5972.7%
- DL 2110to LAX 07:0086.0%
- DL 2119to LAX 11:0086.1%
- DL 2122to LAX 18:5971.0%
- DL 2719to LGA 07:0088.4%
- DL 2732to LGA 15:1571.5%
- DL 2733to LGA 19:5975.8%
- DL 2756to LGA 13:2575.8%
- DL 2764to LGA 10:0582.1%
- DL 1657to MCI 21:3076.1%
- DL 2225to MCO 12:4573.5%
- DL 2309to MCO 19:4568.4%
- DL 2129to MIA 08:5085.3%
- DL 2187to MIA 13:0875.1%
- DL 1599to MSN 21:4582.9%
- DL 2610to MSO 18:1074.9%
- DL 2695to MSY 12:4584.5%
- DL 1544to ORD 07:0082.9%
- DL 2151to PDX 18:4576.2%
- DL 2167to PDX 11:0087.6%
- DL 2415to PDX 09:0087.2%
- DL 2594to PHL 14:2575.0%
- DL 2688to PHL 06:5591.3%
- DL 2703to PHL 20:2576.1%
- DL 2297to PHX 18:4873.2%
- DL 2699to RDU 14:2079.1%
- DL 2932to RDU 20:2578.1%
- DL 2268to RSW 18:4572.5%
- DL 2121to SAN 08:5082.2%
- DL 2125to SAN 11:3878.0%
- DL 2145to SAN 18:4570.8%
- DL 2667to SAT 08:5081.7%
- DL 2773to SAT 18:3571.8%
- DL 2574to SAV 12:4580.9%
- DL 868to SEA 08:5087.0%
- DL 877to SEA 15:1571.7%
- DL 881to SEA 18:5073.2%
- DL 889to SEA 11:0085.4%
- DL 756to SFO 18:4070.5%
- DL 2074to SFO 11:0065.9%
- DL 2087to SJC 18:2568.5%
- DL 2607to SLC 18:1078.8%
- DL 2628to SLC 08:0090.9%
- DL 2651to SLC 11:0089.8%
- DL 2658to SLC 14:2081.0%
- DL 574to SMF 18:4578.7%
- DL 2107to SNA 18:1567.6%
- DL 1609to STL 21:5174.9%
- DL 2264to TPA 12:5082.1%
- DL 2301to TPA 06:0588.4%
- DL 2385to TPA 18:1071.9%
- DL 2462to VPS 10:3586.7%
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 16 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am8,302 flights88.5%
- 8am–11am13,546 flights83.4%
- 11am–2pm11,133 flights80.9%
- 2pm–5pm9,906 flights76.4%
- 5pm–8pm10,425 flights72.2%
- 8pm–5am11,393 flights75.9%
Scale runs 65% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 88.5% of the time, against 72.2% for the evening window. That is 16 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 13,546 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
December is the weak month at 64.8% on time, against 87.1% in September. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days. July was the busiest month here, with 6,362 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 51%Carrier
- 27%National Airspace System
- 18%Late-arriving aircraft
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 51%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 408,000 of the 798,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 797,758 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.19% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.28%.
6.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
64,705 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 87.1% on time and December 64.8%, a swing of 22 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of December before you think about anything else. 63,755 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
Delta Air Lines at MSP
How often is Delta Air Lines at MSP delayed?
About one flight in five arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 20.6% of the 64,705 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Delta Air Lines at MSP?
Alaska Airlines leads at 82.7% on time across 1,247 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 72.2%, a gap of 11 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Delta Air Lines at MSP?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 88.5% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 72.2%, 16 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on Delta Air Lines at MSP?
December is the weakest month at 64.8% on time, compared with 87.1% in September. Across the year that is 22 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- Delta Air Lines network-wide record
- Minneapolis-St Paul International (MSP) all carriers
- MSP to ATL route record83.6%
- MSP to LAX route record81.5%
- MSP to PHX route record79.5%
- MSP to LAS route record79.9%
- Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.