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Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/NicolaChicago O'Hare International Airport

And the worst airport in the country for delays is...

Written by
Joel Meares
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In news likely to surprise only those who still travel interstate by horse-and-cart, New York area airports have been named the worst in the country for on-time arrivals. 

In similarly not-exactly-gonna-make-you-do-a-spittake news, Chicago's O'Hare is not far behind. 

This week the Global Gateway Alliance released the Bureau of Transportation Statistics' airport rankings for on-time performance. The report shows the percentage of on-time arrivals for the nation's major airports in 2014 and 2015, as well as the percentage of on-time departures for both years. 

JFK, Newark and LaGuardia took out the bottom three slots for on-time arrivals, with rates of 76, 75 and 71 percent respectively; O'Hare and Midway were the worst for on-time departures. JFK had a particular fall from grace, dropping from 12th in the country for on-time departures in 2014 to 21st in 2015.

When departure and arrival performance is combined, though, LaGuardia is the worst airport in the country (and just for good measure, the airport is criminally underserved on the bar front—which wasn't in the report, but very much upsets the author of this post).  

Meanwhile, LAX remained stable when it came to departure and arrival performance (77.79 percent in 2014 and 77.95 percent in 2015). But with other major airports lifting their game, it still dropped comparatively from 12th to 20th in the report's rankings. 

San Francisco International Airport was one airport to lift its game—raising its on-time performance 72 percent to 78 percent from 2014 to 2015—but is still ranked 25th when compared to the country's other major airports. 

Which airport is the best for on-time performance? Salt Lake City. 

Ranking of Major Airport On-Time Arrival and Departure Performance for 2014 and 2015

Rank

Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2014

%

Rank

Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2015

%

1

Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)

86.15

1

Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)

87.11

2

Seattle, WA (SEA)

83.10

2

Portland, OR (PDX)

85.26

3

Portland, OR (PDX)

82.13

3

Seattle, WA (SEA)

83.84

4

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN (MSP)

81.97

4

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN (MSP)

83.76

5

Detroit, MI (DTW)

81.93

5

Atlanta, GA (ATL)

83.28

6

Miami, FL (MIA)

81.20

6

Charlotte, NC (CLT)

82.84

7

Charlotte, NC (CLT)

81.12

7

Detroit, MI (DTW)

82.71

8

Atlanta, GA (ATL)

80.05

8

Phoenix, AZ (PHX)

81.94

9

Washington, DC (DCA)

79.92

9

San Diego, CA (SAN)

81.27

10

Phoenix, AZ (PHX)

79.69

10

Tampa, FL (TPA)

80.69

11

Boston, MA (BOS)

79.41

11

Washington, DC (DCA)

80.58

12

Los Angeles, CA (LAX)

77.79

12

Las Vegas, NV (LAS)

79.86

13

Tampa, FL (TPA)

77.68

13

Washington, DC (IAD)

79.55

14

San Diego, CA (SAN)

77.63

14

Philadelphia, PA (PHL)

79.12

15

Philadelphia, PA (PHL)

77.53

15

Orlando, FL (MCO)

79.10

16

New York, NY (JFK)

76.88

16

Houston, TX (IAH)

78.73

17

Orlando, FL (MCO)

76.50

17

Boston, MA (BOS)

78.60

18

Las Vegas, NV (LAS)

76.31

18

Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)

78.47

19

Houston, TX (IAH)

76.29

19

Denver, CO (DEN)

78.43

20

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW)

74.72

20

Los Angeles, CA (LAX)

77.95

21

Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)

74.52

21

Chicago, IL (MDW)

77.74

22

Denver, CO (DEN)

74.46

22

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW)

77.74

23

Washington, DC (IAD)

74.42

23

Baltimore, MD (BWI)

77.72

24

Baltimore, MD (BWI)

74.17

24

Miami, FL (MIA)

77.72

25

New York, NY (LGA)

73.79

25

San Francisco, CA (SFO)

77.67

26

San Francisco, CA (SFO)

71.65

26

New York, NY (JFK)

77.21

27

Newark, NJ (EWR)

70.75

27

Chicago, IL (ORD)

75.76

28

Chicago, IL (MDW)

70.06

28

Newark, NJ (EWR)

75.01

29

Chicago, IL (ORD)

67.49

29

New York, NY (LGA)

72.79


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