PlainFlights

ATL vs DSM - Airport Comparison

Select two airports to compare on-time performance, delays, cancellations, and top routes using U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) data (2020–2025) across all 50 states. See our methodology for how metrics are computed.

Airport A
ATL

Atlanta, GA

Atlanta, Georgia

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Airport B
DSM

Des Moines, IA

Des Moines, Iowa

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Key Performance Metrics

BTS on-time performance data, 2020–2025 cumulative.

Metric ATL DSM
On-Time Rate (higher is better) 83.7% 82.6%
Avg Delay (lower is better) 72.9 min 82.0 min
Delay Rate (lower is better) 16.3% 17.4%
Cancellation Rate (lower is better) 0.79% 1.15%
Total Flights 3,758,561 169,476
Delayed Flights 613,025 29,533
Cancelled Flights 29,771 1,950
Top Delay Cause Carrier Carrier

✓ / ▲ indicates the more favorable value. Data: BTS On-Time Performance, 2020–2025.

Delay Cause Breakdown

ATL - Atlanta, GA

Carrier 46.8%
Late Aircraft 27.2%
NAS 19.4%
Weather 6.4%
Security 0.2%

DSM - Des Moines, IA

Carrier 41.0%
Late Aircraft 31.9%
NAS 19.0%
Weather 7.9%
Security 0.2%

Top Routes

Top routes from ATL

Route Flights On-Time
MCO → ATL
Atlanta
47,291 78.1%
ATL → MCO
Orlando
47,234 76.2%
FLL → ATL
Atlanta
42,458 77.5%
ATL → FLL
Fort Lauderdale
42,441 77.2%
ATL → LGA
New York
42,079 80.8%
LGA → ATL
Atlanta
42,078 82.2%

Top routes from DSM

Route Flights On-Time
ORD → DSM
Des Moines
12,645 79.6%
DSM → ORD
Chicago
12,641 82.9%
DSM → DEN
Denver
12,369 82.5%
DEN → DSM
Des Moines
12,367 78.7%
DFW → DSM
Des Moines
7,556 74.2%
DSM → DFW
Dallas/Fort Worth
7,556 77.9%

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data (2020–2025) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data (2020–2025) On-time rates exclude cancelled and diverted flights. PlainFlights is not affiliated with BTS or the DOT

Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. This tool queries live on-time, delay, and cancellation figures for the two selected airports from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.