Harrisburg, PA

What the Data Says About MDT

Harrisburg, PA in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania handled 60,271 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 82.8% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 10,338 experienced delays, 785 were cancelled, and 68 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 1.30%, the diversion rate to 0.11%, and the average delay when departures run late is 82.9 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing MDT against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at MDT, Carrier leads the pack. Carrier accounts for 40.8% of total delay minutes, followed by Late Aircraft at 35.3% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 16.3%. Weather contributes 7.5% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.1%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, November runs the cleanest at MDT with a 93.9% on-time rate, while July is the roughest at 89.7% — a 4-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in July, when average flights hit 939. The busiest route from MDT is to MDT (Harrisburg), with 6,463 flights at a 81.4% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 82.8% on-time, 82.9-minute average delay, 1.30% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Harrisburg, PA.