Airport month record

MSYMAY

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in May 2026

Departures: 4,194
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 11

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

MSY in May sits in the middle of the pack with a C+. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 5 points worse than the national rate of 78.6%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 4,194 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 677 at 79.4% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 79.4% on time across 677 flights.

On time

73.5%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,145 completed departures

Avg delay

69 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.83%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

78.5%

MSY across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,194 departures from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International in May 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

May next to MSY's other months

Against MSY's own year, May ran 5 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 78.5%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for MSY in May, at 0.83% against 1.47% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 80.1% on time and June 70.0%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

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	4,428	80.1%	63 min	0.65%	B+
May 2026 (this page)	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 May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 33 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am955 flights90.4%
8am–11am692 flights83.7%
11am–2pm603 flights79.0%
2pm–5pm883 flights61.3%
5pm–8pm863 flights59.0%
8pm–5am198 flights57.2%

Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 57.2% on time, against 90.4% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 955 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 79.7% on time and Friday the weakest at 66.3%. 13 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MSY in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 79.4% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 66.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,628 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MSY in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	1,628	66.6%	55 min	0.12%	C+
American Airlines	712	77.2%	107 min	1.83%	B
Delta Air Lines	677	79.4%	52 min	2.07%	B
United Airlines	601	79.1%	59 min	0.33%	B+
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	142	79.6%	107 min	0.00%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	94	64.9%	154 min	0.00%	D+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	77	71.1%	159 min	1.30%	C
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	74	78.4%	34 min	0.00%	B+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	70	84.1%	91 min	1.43%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	62	83.1%	70 min	1.61%	B
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	43	72.1%	61 min	0.00%	C+

The spread between Delta and Southwest is 13 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 13 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of MSY in May

Routes from MSY in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MSY to ATL · Atlantathin sample	348	75.3%	60 min	0.86%	B+
MSY to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	243	68.5%	120 min	4.12%	C−
MSY to IAH · Houstonthin sample	234	71.8%	91 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to DEN · Denverthin sample	206	75.6%	56 min	0.49%	B+
MSY to DAL · Dallasthin sample	201	68.9%	63 min	0.50%	C+
MSY to HOU · Houstonthin sample	193	60.9%	46 min	0.52%	D+
MSY to ORD · Chicagothin sample	184	84.4%	74 min	1.09%	B
MSY to MCO · Orlandothin sample	180	68.7%	73 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	171	65.7%	76 min	1.17%	C
MSY to CLT · Charlottethin sample	164	83.4%	116 min	0.61%	B+
MSY to AUS · Austinthin sample	162	70.8%	69 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to MIA · Miamithin sample	124	81.3%	50 min	0.81%	B+
MSY to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	124	67.8%	65 min	1.61%	C
MSY to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	123	67.5%	46 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to EWR · Newarkthin sample	111	96.4%	58 min	0.90%	A+
MSY to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	107	70.1%	42 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	104	74.0%	44 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	103	86.3%	283 min	0.97%	A+
MSY to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	97	71.1%	97 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	93	77.4%	43 min	0.00%	B+
MSY to MDW · Chicagothin sample	92	62.0%	59 min	0.00%	D+
MSY to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	92	81.8%	46 min	4.35%	B−
MSY to TPA · Tampathin sample	81	66.7%	72 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to BOS · Bostonthin sample	78	73.1%	62 min	0.00%	C+
MSY to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	70	85.7%	38 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held MSY up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 76,000 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
48%
Carrier
28%
National Airspace System
16%
Extreme weather
8%
Security
0%

48% 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 76,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 6 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 75,701 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.83%, below the national 0.92% 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.

8.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%. 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 May

For a May trip through MSY: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 90.4% on time, and with 8.3% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.

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 April80.1%
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