30 major US airports with the most departure delays, ranked

LAX is one of the top airports in the US with departure delays.

Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images Flights are considered on time if they depart from the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

Salt Lake City International Airport had the highest on-time departure performance.

Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had the lowest.

If you're hoping to get to your destination on time, the airport you fly from could make a difference.

The following ranking is based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics data of major airports' on-time departure performance , covering January through June 2026.

The BTS has compiled this data from monthly on-time reports filed by US passenger airlines.

A flight is considered on time if it departs from the gate less than 15 minutes after its scheduled departure time.

To provide context on airport scale and airline mix , additional information for each airport has also been compiled from BTS.

The number of scheduled flights for departures covers the 12 months ending May 2026.

The top carriers also cover the period from June 2025 to May 2026 and are calculated based on passenger shares for both arrivals and departures.

It's important to note that delays at many of these airports are contingent on weather conditions, such as hurricanes in Florida, New England snowstorms, and Arizona's heat.

That could explain why some of these airports are on this list.

Here are the 30 major US airports ranked by on-time departure performance, from best to worst: 30.