Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, MI

What the Data Says About MBS

Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, MI in Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, Michigan handled 20,046 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 84.1% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 3,189 experienced delays, 180 were cancelled, and 9 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 0.90%, the diversion rate to 0.04%, and the average delay when departures run late is 92.4 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing MBS against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at MBS, Carrier leads the pack. Carrier accounts for 58.0% of total delay minutes, followed by Late Aircraft at 17.8% and Weather at 13.0%. Weather contributes 13.0% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.0%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, April runs the cleanest at MBS with a 94.5% on-time rate, while January is the roughest at 89.4% — a 5-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in August, when average flights hit 333. The busiest route from MBS is to MBS (Saginaw/Bay City/Midland), with 6,438 flights at a 86% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 84.1% on-time, 92.4-minute average delay, 0.90% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, MI.