A look at airports and carriers that deliver most reliable flights
A Times Union analysis of flight data may help travelers avoid delays, cancellations
Travel plans can get turbulent during the holidays, but insights from flight data may help travel arrangements go smoother.
The Times Union analyzed data obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media to help air travelers plan for the holidays. Data from FlightAware, which tracks air travel worldwide, discloses canceled flights and delays by each airport and carrier. Whether travelers are looking for cancellation rates of major airlines or assessing smaller carriers, the data is here to help decide which ticket to choose and when to schedule the flight.
The data also offers an illustration of the worldwide political landscape. As travel bustles around most of the globe, silent flight patterns over some countries accentuate uncoordinating
derlying political turmoil.
Which airport serving New York is the most reliable?
The analysis looked at flights originating from airports serving New York, including LaGuardia, Albany International, John F. Kennedy International, Stewart International and Newark Liberty International.
“The number one cause of delays and cancellations is normally weather,” Kathleen Bangs, spokesperson for FlightAware and a former commercial airline pilot, said.
But other factors can contribute.
In the summer and fall of 2021, airlines had major dayslong episodes of high cancellations and delays due to computer network failures, Bangs said. Earlier this year, the COVID-19 omicron variant caused widespread airline and airport employee absenteeism. Still, the weather has the biggest impact day to day.
Albany International Airport ranked at the top of the pack for avoiding delays. While cancellation rates were roughly similar across the five airports, Stewart International had a 10 percent higher rate of delayed flights.
The key is constant communication between all airport departments, which includes airport management, airlines, airport operations and air traffic control, Doug Myers, director of public affairs at Albany International Airport, said.
“If we know of an issue, we can rally the forces to remedy that issue.”
The Airport Authority regularly meets with the teams at Albany International with the goal to resolve potential issues before they impact airline arrival and departure times.
During winter months, it is essential for the airport and airline de-icing operations to work in concert, in addition to refueling, Myers said. Major improvement projects also sped up the flow of passengers to their airline gates, which included a redesign of the security checkpoint within a $100 million expansion of the main terminal.
“A lot of the on-time performance of an airline depends on if it arrives on time, and we’re
not responsible for that,” Myers said. “There’s nothing I can do about a late aircraft.”
Which airline has proven the most reliable?
When weighing the prices of different airlines and luggage options, the reliability of the carrier also comes into question.
Across the five New York area airports, JetBlue Airlines had the most scheduled flights, but it also had the highest rate of delays among the major carriers in the area. In contrast, Delta Airlines and its subsidiary, Endeavor Airlines, had the lowest rate of delays among carriers with the most scheduled flights.
Bangs said differing rates can be observed between regionals and major carriers. Since the pandemic, the regional carriers have lost a lot of pilots who have moved to jobs with major carriers due to higher pay and perceived better working conditions. That left the regionals short on pilots, and she said it’s a time-consuming process to find, hire, replace and train those pilots.
More than 100 cities have lost a third or more of their air service in the past year due to regionals cutting flights, she said.
On a daily or weekly basis, what impacts an airline’s delays or cancellations is the location of their hub, Bangs said. Hurricanes can have an outsize impact on Delta due to its Atlanta base of operations, while Pacific Northwest storms have a large impact on Alaska Airlines, which is based in Seattle. Airlines
have multiple hubs in addition to their main base, and having a weather system hit that hub can cause widespread problems.
What can you do to cut the chances of complications?
“Travel early in the morning,” Myers said. “It’s the best time to travel — the planes are already here, and they’re already ready to go.”
He also said to give yourself time between connecting flights. If one flight ends up delayed, you may still be able to make the connecting flight.
When fliers arrive early enough — Albany requests anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours before flights — they’re able to board on time, Myers said. Different airlines have varying policies, but he said a late passenger could delay the flight by a few minutes.
What destinations had most delays and cancellations?
Out of the busier domestic airports, the flights with the highest rate of delays were headed to Palm Beach, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami in Florida, and Portland, Ore.
As some New Yorkers venture out to visit families around the world, some destinations experience higher rates of cancellations and delay complications.
Nearly half of flights to Turkey experienced a delay — the worst rate of delayed flights for countries with at least 1,000 scheduled flights. Turkey was followed by Ecuador, Qatar, Guatemala, Brazil and Portugal.
Canada experienced the greatest rate of cancellations at 6 percent, followed by domestic flights in the U.S. and then by Israel, Ecuador and Puerto Rico.
Iceland claimed the spot for the most reliable flights when it came to avoiding delays.
In addition to climate, Bangs said labor can account for some of the different international rates. Over the summer in Europe, major airports like Amsterdam and Germany had to put limits in place for how many passengers could fly on the airlines as they could not get enough ground workers and security employees to process travelers.
“This was an unusual case of airports — instead of airlines — limiting how many passengers could fly,” Bangs said.
When did delays and cancellations peak?
While delays have significantly improved since their peaks during summer and are trending downward, they spiked upward around December 2021.
Typically, Bangs said there are high delays and cancellations in the summer because it’s popular for travelers and unpredictable thunderstorms and widespread cold fronts.
In 2022, she said they observed the highest days from January to March due to not one but two Nor’easters hitting the eastern seaboard. Major ice storms across the great plains and even south into Texas required huge preemptive cancellations by the airlines and even airport closures.
Where have N.Y. flights been heading since 2021?
The most popular destination is within the U.S. with more than 680,000 flights scheduled from a New York area airport. The flights flew the most to airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and Boston.
The top five international destinations are Canada, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico.
The data also portrays tumultuous times marked by war and pandemic restrictions. Over Ukraine, the flashing pulses of activity quieted. The U.S. Department of State travel advisories list Ukraine as a “Do Not Travel” country, among 18 others.