According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Knoxville, TN (TYS) ranks #85 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Knoxville, TN posts below-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as a high-volume U.S. airport.
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TYS on-time rate vs. the national average
Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.
Volume vs. on-time rate
Where Knoxville, TN sits on volume vs. on-time rate
Among the 382 U.S. airports in the BTS corpus, Knoxville, TN handles more flight
volume than 78% of them, and has a higher on-time rate than
32% 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.
Knoxville, TN vs. a 29-airport national peer sample, volume percentile vs. on-time-rate percentile.
Total flights (2020-2025): 157,494 ·
On-time rate: 81.9%
Delay Cause Breakdown
Top delay cause: Late Aircraft.
Total delay minutes1,076,913 min
Late Aircraft422,350 min · 39%
Carrier386,946 min · 36%
NAS (National Aviation System)186,201 min · 17%
Weather80,448 min · 7%
Security968 min · 0%
Source: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, On-Time Performance
TYS - seasonal on-time pattern
Best: April (93.9%) · worst: July (90.1%)
TYS - on-time rate by year
2020–2025, year-over-year trend.
TYS - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)
Average taxi-out 17 min · taxi-in 7 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).
TYS's average taxi-out (17 min) sits near the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). Month-to-month, it swings from 15.4 min (July 2024) to 21.6 min (January 2024).
Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for Knoxville, TN, both outside Tennessee 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 Knoxville, TN is the delay mix: Late Aircraft owns 39.2% of 1,076,913 delay minutes across 157,494 BTS flights. The on-time headline is 81.9% (2.9 pts above the 79% national average), with 28,457 delayed and 1,788 cancelled (1.14%).
Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (39.2% late-aircraft, 35.9% carrier, 17.3% NAS, 7.5% 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, TYS is strongest in April (93.9% on-time) and weakest in July (90.1%), a 3.8-point swing. Volume peaks in October (~2,422 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to ATL (Atlanta) at 86.7% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.
Knoxville, TN vs. the national on-time distribution
On-time rate among all 382 tracked U.S. airports
81.9%Top 68%higher than 32% of 382 airports
Knoxville, TN
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.
TYS'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 TYS before you book a connection. See top routes →
Travel in April rather than July if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns →
Gate-to-wheels taxi-out averages 17 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 Knoxville, TN's on-time rate?
Knoxville, TN (TYS) has a 81.9% on-time rate across 157,494 BTS-tracked flights (2020-2025), 2.9 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average; that places it in roughly the below-median on-time performance.
How does TYS rank among U.S. airports by traffic volume?
Knoxville, TN ranks #85 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 Knoxville, TN?
Late Aircraft is the leading delay cause at TYS, accounting for 39.2% of delay minutes. The full breakdown: 39.2% late-aircraft, 35.9% carrier, 17.3% NAS/air-traffic-control, 7.5% weather, and 0.1% security.
When is the best time to fly through Knoxville, TN?
April is historically TYS's strongest month at 93.9% on-time, while July is the weakest at 90.1%, a 3.8-point swing across the BTS historical record.