According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), El Paso, TX (ELP) ranks #74 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). El Paso, TX posts below-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as a high-volume U.S. airport.
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ELP on-time rate vs. the national average
Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.
Volume vs. on-time rate
Where El Paso, TX sits on volume vs. on-time rate
Among the 382 U.S. airports in the BTS corpus, El Paso, TX handles more flight
volume than 81% of them, and has a higher on-time rate than
26% of them, placing it in the quadrant for busy and delay-prone.
Flight volume and on-time rate are independent figures: a busy airport can still run
reliably, and a quiet one can still run late.
El Paso, TX vs. a 29-airport national peer sample, volume percentile vs. on-time-rate percentile.
Total flights (2020-2025): 186,225 ·
On-time rate: 81.4%
Delay Cause Breakdown
Top delay cause: Late Aircraft.
Total delay minutes1,074,182 min
Late Aircraft487,882 min · 45%
Carrier375,774 min · 35%
NAS (National Aviation System)153,052 min · 14%
Weather56,246 min · 5%
Security1,228 min · 0%
Source: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, On-Time Performance
ELP - seasonal on-time pattern
Best: January (93.5%) · worst: July (89.2%)
ELP - on-time rate by year
2020–2025, year-over-year trend.
ELP - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)
Average taxi-out 14.5 min · taxi-in 4.7 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).
ELP's average taxi-out (14.5 min) sits near the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). Month-to-month, it swings from 13.6 min (July 2024) to 15.6 min (November 2025).
Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for El Paso, TX, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not same-state geography. Axes stay disjoint: volume peers exclude the on-time peer set. Same-state compare stays below.
The standout signal at El Paso, TX is the delay mix: Late Aircraft owns 45.4% of 1,074,182 delay minutes across 186,225 BTS flights. The on-time headline is 81.4% (2.4 pts above the 79% national average), with 34,595 delayed and 1,832 cancelled (0.98%).
Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (45.4% late-aircraft, 35.0% carrier, 14.2% NAS, 5.2% weather, 0.1% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.
On the multi-year calendar, ELP is strongest in January (93.5% on-time) and weakest in July (89.2%), a 4.3-point swing. Volume peaks in October (~2,804 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) at 80.5% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.
El Paso, TX vs. the national on-time distribution
On-time rate among all 382 tracked U.S. airports
81.4%Top 74%higher than 26% of 382 airports
El Paso, TX
60%95%
U.S. airports by on-time rate, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more airports. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Data Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data (2020–2025).
Statistics reflect cumulative performance across all available reporting periods. On-time rates exclude cancelled and diverted flights.
ELP's on-time book sits in the slower half of the BTS set; check the delay mix and the worst month before treating the headline as typical.
Check the busiest route from ELP before you book a connection. See top routes →
Travel in January rather than July if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns →
Gate-to-wheels taxi-out averages 14.5 min here; check the monthly series before a tight connection. Taxi times →
On-time rate reflects the BTS historical average across all reporting carriers at this airport, not any single flight or airline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is El Paso, TX's on-time rate?
El Paso, TX (ELP) has a 81.4% on-time rate across 186,225 BTS-tracked flights (2020-2025), 2.4 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average; that places it in roughly the below-median on-time performance.
How does ELP rank among U.S. airports by traffic volume?
El Paso, TX ranks #74 of 382 tracked US airports by total BTS flights (most flights = #1), making it a high-volume U.S. airport.
What's the most common cause of delays at El Paso, TX?
Late Aircraft is the leading delay cause at ELP, accounting for 45.4% of delay minutes. The full breakdown: 45.4% late-aircraft, 35.0% carrier, 14.2% NAS/air-traffic-control, 5.2% weather, and 0.1% security.
When is the best time to fly through El Paso, TX?
January is historically ELP's strongest month at 93.5% on-time, while July is the weakest at 89.2%, a 4.3-point swing across the BTS historical record.