Airport month record
MSYJAN
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in January 2026
- Departures
- 3,901
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 12
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at MSY, see live FAA status.
MSY in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.1% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, more than four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 3,901 flights, of which United Airlines flew 565 at 90.7% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 90.7% on time across 565 flights.
Key figures
On time
84.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,735 completed departures
Avg delay
72 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
4.13%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
78.5%
MSY across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,901 departures from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in January 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
January next to MSY's other months
Against MSY's own year, January ran 6 points better than the twelve-month rate of 78.5%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 4.13% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.8 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 78.0% on time and February 82.8%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| 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 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 11 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am768 flights90.9%
- 8am–11am735 flights87.4%
- 11am–2pm669 flights84.1%
- 2pm–5pm956 flights82.3%
- 5pm–8pm620 flights79.9%
- 8pm–5am153 flights83.2%
Scale runs 70% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.9% of the time, against 79.9% for the evening window. That is 11 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 2pm–5pm window is the busiest, with 956 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 89.4% on time and Sunday the weakest at 79.2%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MSY in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 90.7% of the time; American Airlines manages 79.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 606 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,445 | 86.2% | 42 min | 2.35% | A |
| American Airlines | 606 | 79.4% | 120 min | 9.90% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 587 | 89.7% | 76 min | 4.43% | A− |
| United Airlines | 565 | 90.7% | 62 min | 1.06% | A |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 207 | 77.5% | 78 min | 7.73% | B− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 92 | 72.7% | 105 min | 4.35% | C− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 86 | 81.5% | 39 min | 5.81% | B− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 81 | 77.2% | 65 min | 1.23% | B |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 67 | 74.2% | 135 min | 1.49% | C |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 64 | 78.0% | 53 min | 7.81% | B− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 53 | 79.2% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 31 | 89.7% | 35 min | 6.45% | A− |
American Airlines cancels 9.9% 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 in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSY to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 310 | 91.3% | 73 min | 3.87% | A− |
| MSY to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 235 | 91.9% | 51 min | 0.43% | A+ |
| MSY to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 206 | 74.6% | 84 min | 12.14% | C− |
| MSY to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 199 | 79.4% | 94 min | 2.01% | B |
| MSY to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 195 | 82.7% | 58 min | 2.05% | B |
| MSY to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 189 | 85.4% | 38 min | 5.82% | A− |
| MSY to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 185 | 90.1% | 42 min | 1.62% | A |
| MSY to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 173 | 80.5% | 63 min | 7.51% | B− |
| MSY to DEN · Denverthin sample | 173 | 83.8% | 32 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to AUS · Austinthin sample | 154 | 86.5% | 48 min | 3.90% | A− |
| MSY to MIA · Miamithin sample | 134 | 78.6% | 82 min | 5.97% | B− |
| MSY to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 129 | 82.3% | 74 min | 3.88% | B− |
| MSY to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 126 | 84.7% | 98 min | 11.11% | B− |
| MSY to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 119 | 92.9% | 36 min | 5.04% | A− |
| MSY to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 115 | 90.6% | 176 min | 7.83% | A− |
| MSY to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 110 | 78.7% | 90 min | 1.82% | B |
| MSY to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 109 | 93.2% | 89 min | 5.50% | A− |
| MSY to TPA · Tampathin sample | 92 | 86.7% | 48 min | 2.17% | A |
| MSY to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 87 | 74.7% | 188 min | 9.20% | C− |
| MSY to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 84 | 75.3% | 68 min | 8.33% | B− |
| MSY to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 76 | 82.2% | 69 min | 3.95% | B− |
| MSY to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 73 | 82.9% | 83 min | 4.11% | B− |
| MSY to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 66 | 78.8% | 45 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 65 | 82.8% | 43 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSY to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 64 | 78.3% | 108 min | 6.25% | B− |
Delay causes
What held MSY up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 41,000 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.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Carrier
- 15%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. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 41,000 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 40,567 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.13%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in 25 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.
What to do with this
Flying from MSY in January
For a January trip through MSY: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.9% on time with 4.13% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- 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 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.