Airport month record

MSYAPR

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in April 2026

Departures: 4,428
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 12

Historical statistics for April 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s April. For today’s conditions at MSY, see live FAA status.

MSY in April lands a B+, level with the national rate of 79.8%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,428 flights, of which United Airlines flew 656 at 85.6% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 85.6% on time across 656 flights.

On time

80.1%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,388 completed departures

Avg delay

63 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.65%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

78.5%

MSY across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,428 departures from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in April 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.

Against the year

April next to MSY's other months

Against MSY's own year, April ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 78.5%, which makes it number six of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for MSY in April, at 0.65% against 1.47% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 75.3% on time and May 73.5%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

MSY month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	4,039	71.9%	82 min	1.81%	C
August 2025	3,739	80.2%	80 min	1.10%	B
September 2025	3,619	85.9%	70 min	0.36%	A+
October 2025	4,699	78.9%	56 min	0.53%	B+
November 2025	4,314	81.1%	80 min	1.27%	B
December 2025	4,152	78.0%	74 min	1.28%	B
January 2026	3,901	84.9%	72 min	4.13%	B−
February 2026	4,111	82.8%	68 min	1.82%	B
March 2026	4,485	75.3%	75 min	2.79%	B
April 2026 (this page)	4,428	80.1%	63 min	0.65%	B+
May 2026	4,194	73.5%	69 min	0.83%	C+
June 2026	3,709	70.0%	78 min	1.11%	C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave MSY in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 9 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,008 flights91.4%
8am–11am724 flights87.5%
11am–2pm715 flights78.2%
2pm–5pm919 flights75.6%
5pm–8pm765 flights67.6%
8pm–5am297 flights73.5%

Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.4% of the time, against 67.6% for the evening window. That is 24 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 1,008 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 84.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 75.8%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MSY in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 85.6% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 76.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,591 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MSY in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	1,591	76.5%	46 min	0.19%	B+
American Airlines	735	81.7%	92 min	0.82%	B+
Delta Air Lines	699	84.3%	72 min	1.00%	B
United Airlines	656	85.6%	78 min	0.46%	A+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	159	67.1%	72 min	2.52%	C
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	129	78.9%	43 min	0.00%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	105	75.5%	57 min	2.86%	B
Republic Airwaysthin sample	101	77.6%	51 min	1.98%	B
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	90	87.8%	58 min	0.00%	A+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	69	88.2%	76 min	1.45%	A
Envoy Airthin sample	47	70.2%	56 min	0.00%	C+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	30	73.3%	105 min	0.00%	C+

United leads Southwest by 9 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of MSY in April

Routes from MSY in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MSY to ATL · Atlantathin sample	335	86.2%	78 min	0.60%	A+
MSY to IAH · Houstonthin sample	269	83.6%	69 min	0.00%	B+
MSY to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	253	72.8%	102 min	1.19%	C
MSY to ORD · Chicagothin sample	226	70.9%	66 min	3.98%	C−
MSY to DEN · Denverthin sample	216	82.2%	51 min	0.93%	B+
MSY to MCO · Orlandothin sample	202	74.6%	50 min	0.50%	C+
MSY to DAL · Dallasthin sample	194	75.6%	60 min	0.00%	B+
MSY to HOU · Houstonthin sample	193	74.0%	35 min	0.52%	C+
MSY to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	177	76.1%	55 min	0.56%	B+
MSY to CLT · Charlottethin sample	168	89.9%	58 min	0.00%	A+
MSY to AUS · Austinthin sample	160	78.1%	52 min	0.00%	B+
MSY to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	142	75.7%	48 min	0.70%	B+
MSY to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	120	68.1%	57 min	2.50%	C
MSY to MIA · Miamithin sample	120	87.5%	62 min	0.00%	A+
MSY to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	119	80.7%	56 min	0.00%	B+
MSY to EWR · Newarkthin sample	119	95.0%	77 min	0.00%	A+
MSY to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	112	83.0%	43 min	0.00%	B+
MSY to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	112	78.6%	96 min	0.00%	B+
MSY to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	106	87.7%	172 min	0.00%	A+
MSY to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	100	86.9%	46 min	0.00%	A+
MSY to TPA · Tampathin sample	99	74.7%	56 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to MDW · Chicagothin sample	91	73.0%	57 min	1.10%	C
MSY to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	89	77.3%	38 min	1.12%	B
MSY to BOS · Bostonthin sample	77	68.8%	52 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to DTW · Detroitthin sample	68	89.6%	32 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held MSY up in April

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 55,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
44%
Carrier
29%
National Airspace System
22%
Extreme weather
5%

44% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 55,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 54,760 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.65%, below the national 0.90% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.

6.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says 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.

What to do with this

Flying from MSY in April

For a April trip through MSY: expect 80.1% on time and 0.65% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (MSY), the whole year
MSY in July71.9%
MSY in August80.2%
MSY in September85.9%
MSY in October78.9%
MSY in November81.1%
MSY in December78.0%
MSY in January84.9%
MSY in February82.8%
MSY in March75.3%
MSY in May73.5%
MSY in June70.0%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures