New Orleans, LA · departure reliability
MSY
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International
- Departures
- 48,856
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Carriers
- 12
- US rank
- #39 by volume
New Orleans
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International lands a B, level with the national rate of 77.3%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That rests on 48,856 flights, of which United Airlines flew 6,748 at 84.4% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the twelve carriers covered here at 84.4% on time across 6,748 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.0%
Departures arriving under 15 minutes late at their destination
Avg delay
73 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.49%
National rate is 1.89%
Best carrier
United
84.4% on time here
These figures cover 49,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 6 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.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines run best out of MSY
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 84.4% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 67.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,443 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 18,327 | 75.8% | 54 min | 0.61% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 7,594 | 76.5% | 105 min | 2.11% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 7,529 | 83.1% | 78 min | 2.15% | B |
| United Airlines | 6,748 | 84.4% | 78 min | 0.71% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,250 | 76.7% | 73 min | 3.11% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,443 | 67.2% | 85 min | 3.05% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,117 | 67.5% | 89 min | 2.42% | C |
| PSA Airlines | 895 | 74.4% | 123 min | 6.26% | C− |
| Envoy Air | 783 | 80.1% | 64 min | 1.53% | B |
| Republic Airways | 770 | 80.6% | 66 min | 3.25% | B− |
| Alaska Airlines | 729 | 74.5% | 54 min | 0.96% | C+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 570 | 77.5% | 86 min | 0.70% | B+ |
PSA Airlines cancels 6.3% 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
Busiest routes out of MSY
Route-level records vary far more than the airport average. These are the 25 busiest departures from MSY, each with its own on-time rate against the airport-wide 78.0%.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSY to ATL · Atlanta | 4,004 | 82.2% | 68 min | 1.47% | B |
| MSY to IAH · Houston | 2,910 | 83.2% | 79 min | 0.38% | B+ |
| MSY to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 2,816 | 74.1% | 100 min | 2.84% | C |
| MSY to ORD · Chicago | 2,424 | 77.7% | 92 min | 2.56% | B |
| MSY to DAL · Dallas | 2,279 | 77.1% | 57 min | 1.14% | B |
| MSY to DEN · Denver | 2,279 | 79.5% | 61 min | 0.35% | B+ |
| MSY to HOU · Houston | 2,276 | 75.9% | 50 min | 0.66% | B+ |
| MSY to MCO · Orlando | 2,225 | 77.5% | 63 min | 1.26% | B |
| MSY to AUS · Austin | 1,976 | 76.8% | 60 min | 0.40% | B+ |
| MSY to DCA · Washington | 1,949 | 70.5% | 89 min | 3.03% | C− |
| MSY to CLT · Charlotte | 1,686 | 81.8% | 98 min | 1.30% | B |
| MSY to BNA · Nashville | 1,499 | 76.1% | 48 min | 0.47% | B+ |
| MSY to MIA · Miami | 1,478 | 80.2% | 82 min | 1.29% | B |
| MSY to LAX · Los Angeles | 1,428 | 78.3% | 72 min | 0.49% | B+ |
| MSY to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 1,406 | 73.1% | 66 min | 2.35% | C |
| MSY to LGA · New York | 1,391 | 70.1% | 85 min | 3.81% | C− |
| MSY to EWR · Newark | 1,218 | 86.3% | 88 min | 2.38% | A |
| MSY to JFK · New York | 1,142 | 77.2% | 77 min | 5.60% | B− |
| MSY to BWI · Baltimore | 1,135 | 79.0% | 53 min | 0.97% | B+ |
| MSY to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,133 | 79.6% | 130 min | 3.44% | B− |
| MSY to TPA · Tampa | 1,051 | 76.8% | 65 min | 1.05% | B |
| MSY to MDW · Chicago | 1,014 | 73.7% | 53 min | 1.08% | C |
| MSY to PHX · Phoenix | 933 | 78.3% | 73 min | 0.43% | B+ |
| MSY to BOS · Boston | 861 | 61.9% | 85 min | 2.09% | D |
| MSY to LAS · Las Vegas | 859 | 78.6% | 52 min | 0.12% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave MSY
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am10,628 flights90.1%
- 8am–11am8,085 flights86.7%
- 11am–2pm7,739 flights80.5%
- 2pm–5pm10,571 flights70.8%
- 5pm–8pm9,161 flights65.2%
- 8pm–5am2,672 flights67.4%
Scale runs 55% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.1% of the time, against 65.2% for the evening window. That is 25 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 10,628 flights scheduled in it.
Explore
Filter MSY departures by airline, time, month and day
Pick a breakdown and a carrier. The dashed mark on each row is the same slice for every US flight.
On departures from New Orleans (MSY), the best departure window is 5am–8am at 90.1% on time and the worst is 5pm–8pm at 65.2%, a wide gap of 24.9 points. All US flights leaving 5am–8am ran 89.3%.
- 5–8am90.1%
- 8–11am86.7%
- 11am–2pm80.5%
- 2–5pm70.8%
- 5–8pm65.2%
- 8pm–5am67.4%
best all US flightsScale 55% to 95%.
Across the year
When MSY runs late
MSY's year swings by 17 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
July is the worst month at 69.3% on time, 17 points below September, the best at 85.9%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck. October was the busiest month here, with 4,699 flights.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 84.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 70.1%, a spread of 14 points.
MSY month by month
From Europe
Transatlantic routes into MSY
1 European airport sends scheduled passenger flights to MSY, 424 flights a year in both directions by the DOT's international count. The DOT keeps no delay record for international flights; the UK routes carry the CAA's departure punctuality, and every route sets its departure airport's EUROCONTROL figures beside MSY's own record above.
Delay causes
Why MSY gets delayed
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 771,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 28%Carrier
- 20%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
46% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 771,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 to one. The split is drawn from 771,417 reported delay minutes.
The practical consequence: the 5am–8am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 90.1% on time here.
Cancellations sit at 1.49% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.30%.
7.8% 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 a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
48,856 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.
What to do with this
Flying out of MSY
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 85.9% on time and July 69.3%, a swing of 17 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else. 47,979 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
MSY delay questions
How often is New Orleans (MSY) delayed?
Roughly 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 22.0% of the 48,856 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on New Orleans (MSY)?
United Airlines leads at 84.4% on time across 6,748 flights. JetBlue Airways is at the other end on 67.2%, a gap of 17 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 New Orleans (MSY)?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 90.1% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 65.2%, 25 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 July delays on New Orleans (MSY)?
July is the weakest month at 69.3% on time, compared with 85.9% in September. Across the year that is 17 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
- MSY to ATL — Atlanta82.2%
- MSY to IAH — Houston83.2%
- MSY to DFW — Dallas-Fort Worth74.1%
- MSY to ORD — Chicago77.7%
- MSY to DAL — Dallas77.1%
- MSY to DEN — Denver79.5%
- Southwest Airlines on-time record75.8%
- American Airlines on-time record76.5%
- Delta Air Lines on-time record83.1%
- United Airlines on-time record84.4%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- US airports with the biggest gap between their best and worst month
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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.