MAN→JFK

Virgin Atlantic is the most punctual carrier on the departing leg at 84.4% across 289 flights, and Aer Lingus the least at 64.2% across 135. 20 points between them is a large gap for one city pair, large enough to prefer the better carrier at a modest fare difference. Cancellations tell a different story: Aer Lingus dropped 16.7% of its scheduled departures, the highest on the route, and a cancellation costs a traveller more than any delay.

Flights are scheduled departures in the CAA file, operated plus cancelled; on time is within 15 minutes of the planned off-block time. The DOT count below includes the return direction and may differ.

January was the weakest month for departures at 57.0% on time and March the strongest at 95.7%, a swing of 39 points across the year. That is a wide seasonal range, wider than the gap between the best and worst carriers, so the month you fly matters more than the airline you pick. The DOT's count puts the busiest month at 120 flights in October 2025 and the thinnest at 45 in March 2026, so capacity follows the summer peak.

Coming the other way, 76.1% of arrivals from John F. Kennedy International into Manchester reached the gate within 15 minutes of schedule, across 419 flights. 34% arrived more than 15 minutes early, which is normal for an eastbound crossing with the jet stream behind it and a schedule padded for the days it is not. 1.59% of those arrivals were three hours or more late, the figure that decides a compensation claim on the return trip, and 6.9% were cancelled.

EUROCONTROL's figures for Manchester as a whole, every airline and every destination: 63.6% of departures and 65.7% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 96.2% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 62.4% for departures, about a point worse than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 0.9 minutes per arriving flight this year, 0.4 over the last week.

Every US route from Manchester, and its full punctuality record

John F. Kennedy International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 74.3% of its 102,713 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running a little over an hour late, and 3.98% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at JFK reaches a flight from MAN just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.

John F. Kennedy International (JFK) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month

Every flight that departs Manchester falls under UK261, the retained version of the EU regulation, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at John F. Kennedy International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed £520 (£260 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from JFK is covered only when the carrier is UK or EU based. The sector is about 3,332 miles, 5,361 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →

Booked blind, MAN to JFK is a B− route by the departure record. Booked with the numbers, it is Virgin Atlantic at 84.4%, outside January if the dates are flexible, and a connection at JFK with at least two hours in hand, because 5% of departures were an hour or more late and immigration comes before any onward flight.

• Manchester (MAN): every US route
• John F. Kennedy International (JFK) delay statistics
• MAN to MCO, Orlando (MCO)1,208 flights
• MAN to ATL, Atlanta (ATL)628 flights
• MAN to LAS, Las Vegas (LAS)162 flights
• MAN to MLB, Melbourne (MLB)121 flights
• LHR to JFK, from London14,572 flights
• CDG to JFK, from Paris7,055 flights
• FCO to JFK, from Rome3,990 flights
• FRA to JFK, from Frankfurt3,168 flights
• Every Europe-to-US route and airport

The departure record is the CAA's, measured at Manchester; the arrival record for the return leg is also measured at Manchester. Nothing here is measured at JFK, where the DOT keeps no record of international flights.