New Orleans, LA

What the Data Says About MSY

New Orleans, LA in New Orleans, Louisiana handled 539,385 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 79.9% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 108,300 experienced delays, 8,156 were cancelled, and 616 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 1.51%, the diversion rate to 0.11%, and the average delay when departures run late is 70.6 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing MSY against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at MSY, Late Aircraft leads the pack. Late Aircraft accounts for 47.3% of total delay minutes, followed by Carrier at 28.7% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 19.2%. Weather contributes 4.6% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.2%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, September runs the cleanest at MSY with a 92.8% on-time rate, while July is the roughest at 86.2% — a 7-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in March, when average flights hit 8,660. The busiest route from MSY is to ATL (Atlanta), with 24,869 flights at a 85.3% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 79.9% on-time, 70.6-minute average delay, 1.51% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at New Orleans, LA.