The Federal Aviation Administration oversees over 16.4 million flights a year taking off from and/or landing in the U.S. That works out to roughly 45,000 flights a day, carrying about 2.9 million passengers daily across more than 29 million square miles of airspace, flying in or out of one of the nation’s 19,633 airports — 5,082 public, the others private. Some 63 commercial scheduled airlines are involved, 18 considered major carriers.
What could go wrong? Or to put it another way, is it any wonder that millions of flights each year are delayed or canceled?
There are numerous reasons why a plane might not take off on time — or take off at all. The most common is severe weather — conditions that would make flying dangerous. And that doesn’t always mean problems at the departure airport, because cancellations and delays in any one part of the nationwide system can have a domino effect, interrupting flights everywhere.
Other concerns include security matters (if, for instance, the contents of a bag trigger alarms necessitating a manual search; or someone who has checked luggage onto a plane doesn’t board; or an unruly passenger refuses to obey crew instructions or acts threateningly); a tight flight schedule that might not leave sufficient time to prepare the plane for takeoff, which can lead to the loss of a departure slot; mechanical or maintenance issues with the aircraft; technical problems with air traffic control; air traffic restrictions due to overcrowded runways or skies; a shortage of passengers; and a shortage of pilots or flight attendants due to illness, strikes, or insufficient rest time between flights. (Sometimes the problems begin with the airport. These are the U.S. airports with the most flight delays in 2023.)
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 2023 was the busiest year for air travel ever recorded, so not surprisingly, delays and cancellations soared. To determine the airlines with the most delayed and canceled flights last year, 24/7 Tempo reviewed a study conducted by Tradingpedia, a financial news site focusing on stocks, currencies, and commodities. The site analyzed the OTP (on-time performance) database for 2023 published by OAG, a U.K.-based aviation industry site. Tradingpedia considered only airlines flying more than 20,000 segments last year, leaving it with the 13 most active carriers.
Airlines are ranked according to the percentage of their total flights that were delayed or canceled in 2023 rather than their total number. Tradingpedia explains that, while the number of affected flights would ordinarily be expressed in whole numbers, “the OAG datasets we looked at were only partial, [providing] the number of flights, as well as the cancellation and the on-time performance rates, i.e. the percentage of canceled and on-time flights. From this data, we calculated the number of canceled, delayed and on-time flights, which is why they are expressed with decimal points.”
Scroll down for the airlines with the most delayed and canceled flights:
13. Delta Air Lines
- Total flights (2023): 1,644,491
- Flights canceled (2023): 19,946.63
- Flights delayed (2023): 256,868.84
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 16.83%
12. Alaska Airlines
- Total flights (2023): 407,736
- Flights canceled (2023): 2,791.28
- Flights delayed (2023): 74,240.91
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 18.89%
11. American Airlines
- Total flights (2023): 2,010,474
- Flights canceled (2023): 22,050.23
- Flights delayed (2023): 399,106.52
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 20.95%
10. United Airlines
- Total flights (2023): 1,514,338
- Flights canceled (2023): 26,204.99
- Flights delayed (2023): 297,668.61
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 21.39%
9. Southwest Airlines
- Total flights (2023): 1,471,143
- Flights canceled (2023): 14,178.36
- Flights delayed (2023): 346,968.50
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 24.55%
8. Sun Country Airlines
- Total flights (2023): 26,318
- Flights canceled (2023): 215.025
- Flights delayed (2023): 6,333.40
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 24.88%
7. Hawaiian Airlines
- Total flights (2023): 85,131
- Flights canceled (2023): 1,026.821
- Flights delayed (2023): 20,425.937
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 25.20%
6. Allegiant Air LLC
- Total flights (2023): 94,727
- Flights canceled (2023): 1,664.616
- Flights delayed (2023): 23,292.04
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 26.35%
5. Spirit Airlines
- Total flights (2023): 300,517
- Flights canceled (2023): 4,772.068
- Flights delayed (2023): 87,007.899
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 30.54%
4. Cape Air
- Total flights (2023): 79,899
- Flights canceled (2023): 6,375.595
- Flights delayed (2023): 18,039.661
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 30.56%
3. JetBlue Airways Corporation
- Total flights (2023): 352,778
- Flights canceled (2023): 6,639.862
- Flights delayed (2023): 105,935.549
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 31.91%
2. Frontier Airlines Inc.
Source: Laser1987 / Getty Images
- Total flights (2023): 192,704
- Flights canceled (2023): 3,377.75
- Flights delayed (2023): 59,629.969
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 32.70%
1. Silver Airways, LLC
- Total flights (2023): 25,326
- Flights canceled (2023): 185.07
- Flights delayed (2023): 9,258.409
- Percentage of flights canceled or delayed: 37.29%