Take a bow, Chicago. Always-congested O’Hare was the worst major U.S. airport for on-time departures in 2007, according to recently released numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
You’ll never guess the nine runners-up. (Then again, maybe you will.) There’s another Chicago airport and New York’s three airports made the list, too.
Here’s the complete list. On-time departure percentages are in brackets:
1. Chicago O’Hare (68.15)
2. Newark (68.40)
3. New York JFK (69.06)
4. Philadelphia (69.62)
5. Dallas/Ft.Worth (71.57)
6. Charlotte (71.66)
7. Atlanta (72.19)
8. New York La Guardia (72.29)
9. Miami (73.70)
10. Chicago Midway (74.09)
How about the 10 best airports? That’s a lot harder to guess.
1. Honolulu (93.08)
2. Spokane, Wash. (86.34)
3. Long Beach, Calif. (85.16)
4. Tucson, Ariz. (85.15)
5. Fresno, Calif. (85.03)
6. Salt Lake City (84.94)
7. Portland, Ore. (84.40)
8. San Jose, Calif. (84.09)
9. Reno, Nev. (83.42)
10. Ontario/San Bernardino, Calif. (83.36)
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Notice that all of the top on-time airports are west of the Rockies?
Notice that Philadelphia and Charlotte make the list.
Could it be that the operational abortion known as US Airways is the primary carrier at both airports?????
Notice that MOST of the worst on-time performance airports are hub operations and few of the BEST are.
Wonder how much better Chicago-Midway would be if O’hare was not so close.
I wonder how IAH fared. CO is the major hub carrier there, and they managed to NOT make the top 10 worst list.
@jlawrence01: It’s funny you mention that. I recently got delayed at O’Hare because Midway flights were in the way.
It seems like a numbers game in a lot of ways – the airports that are busier have less on-time departures. I wonder what the percentage is based on total number of flights. Do they have a statistic that takes that into account?
Even if IAH gets you out the door on time, staying in that airport for any length of time is a horror. That “B” concourse should be razed to the ground. The air-conditioning hardly works and there’s nowhere to sit. I changed planes there on one trip. Never again. Not even if I have to go from HSV to LAX via Omaha! Never again.
At least O’Hare has plenty of seats and DFW has good Texas BBQ.
Atlanta and Miami should be outlawed as hazardous to your mental health. Those airports resemble nothing so much as zoos on caffeine.
Glad to see my home airport made the top ten best and my #1 destination is not on either. So tired of Philadelphia so now i connect in Vegas to go east. And No US Airways is not always that bad. Just stay away from the east coast hubs
I’ll bet Denver would have a better on-time departure record if so many aircraft were not late arriving in Denver — usually from congested Chicago or New York or foggy San Francisco. The airport has six runways and ample taxiways too.
Claire @ http://travel-babel.blogspot.com