Airport month record
MSYAUG
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in August 2025
- Departures
- 3,739
- Month
- August 2025
- National, same month
- 77.4%
- Carriers
- 12
Historical statistics for August 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at MSY, see live FAA status.
MSY in August lands a B, 3 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,739 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 582 at 86.7% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 86.7% on time across 582 flights.
Key figures
On time
80.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,680 completed departures
Avg delay
80 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.10%
Nationally in August: 1.08%
Whole year
78.5%
MSY across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,739 departures from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in August 2025. 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
August next to MSY's other months
Against MSY's own year, August ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 78.5%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, July ran 71.9% on time and September 85.9%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 4,039 | 71.9% | 82 min | 1.81% | C |
| August 2025 (this page) | 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 | 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 August
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am825 flights89.4%
- 8am–11am628 flights90.8%
- 11am–2pm618 flights81.3%
- 2pm–5pm711 flights74.9%
- 5pm–8pm732 flights66.3%
- 8pm–5am225 flights75.8%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the morning departure. Flights leaving between 8am–11am arrive on time 90.8% of the time, against 66.3% 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 825 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 88.9% on time and Thursday the weakest at 76.0%. 13 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MSY in August
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 86.7% of the time; American Airlines manages 71.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 439 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,331 | 82.3% | 54 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 582 | 86.7% | 81 min | 1.20% | A |
| United Airlines | 498 | 81.1% | 81 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 439 | 71.3% | 115 min | 1.37% | C |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 364 | 77.7% | 92 min | 0.82% | B+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 121 | 73.5% | 59 min | 2.48% | C |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 94 | 95.7% | 52 min | 2.13% | A |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 88 | 67.5% | 110 min | 5.68% | C− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 75 | 88.0% | 86 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 57 | 66.7% | 37 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 54 | 65.4% | 152 min | 3.70% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 36 | 57.1% | 74 min | 2.78% | D |
The spread between Delta and American is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MSY in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSY to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 333 | 82.5% | 74 min | 1.20% | B |
| MSY to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 247 | 82.5% | 72 min | 0.40% | B+ |
| MSY to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 239 | 66.4% | 77 min | 3.77% | C− |
| MSY to AUS · Austinthin sample | 181 | 84.4% | 61 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 180 | 79.8% | 68 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| MSY to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 178 | 80.3% | 49 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 157 | 84.8% | 47 min | 1.91% | B |
| MSY to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 155 | 72.5% | 63 min | 0.65% | C+ |
| MSY to DEN · Denverthin sample | 148 | 75.3% | 51 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| MSY to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 145 | 73.2% | 67 min | 2.07% | C |
| MSY to MIA · Miamithin sample | 139 | 70.8% | 112 min | 0.72% | C+ |
| MSY to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 128 | 81.2% | 234 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 119 | 80.0% | 120 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| MSY to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 118 | 88.0% | 45 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MSY to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 114 | 92.9% | 36 min | 1.75% | A |
| MSY to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 102 | 88.9% | 54 min | 2.94% | A |
| MSY to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 96 | 83.0% | 139 min | 2.08% | B |
| MSY to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 93 | 82.2% | 160 min | 3.23% | B− |
| MSY to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 88 | 86.4% | 69 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MSY to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 85 | 84.3% | 57 min | 1.18% | B |
| MSY to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 76 | 85.3% | 107 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MSY to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 68 | 66.2% | 134 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MSY to TPA · Tampathin sample | 61 | 82.0% | 68 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 57 | 82.5% | 81 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 57 | 66.7% | 37 min | 0.00% | C+ |
Delay causes
What held MSY up in August
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 58,000 reported delay minutes.
- 39%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Carrier
- 22%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
39% 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 58,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 8 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 58,179 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.10% against a national 1.08%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.48%.
7.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. 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 a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from MSY in August
For a August trip through MSY: expect 80.2% on time and 1.10% cancelled, going by August 2025. The 8am–11am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (MSY), the whole year
- MSY in July71.9%
- 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 April80.1%
- 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.