PlainFlights

DTW vs IAH - 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
DTW

Detroit, MI

Detroit, Michigan

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Airport B
IAH

Houston, TX

Houston, Texas

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Key Performance Metrics

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

Metric DTW IAH
On-Time Rate (higher is better) 84.8% 81.6%
Avg Delay (lower is better) 81.3 min 79.8 min
Delay Rate (lower is better) 15.2% 18.4%
Cancellation Rate (lower is better) 0.82% 1.13%
Total Flights 1,488,949 1,404,392
Delayed Flights 226,988 258,419
Cancelled Flights 12,186 15,858
Top Delay Cause Carrier Carrier

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

Delay Cause Breakdown

DTW - Detroit, MI

Carrier 51.7%
NAS 20.1%
Late Aircraft 19.3%
Weather 8.7%
Security 0.1%

IAH - Houston, TX

Carrier 38.4%
Late Aircraft 34.9%
NAS 18.1%
Weather 8.6%
Security 0.0%

Top Routes

Top routes from DTW

Route Flights On-Time
ORD → DTW
Detroit
29,459 81.6%
DTW → ORD
Chicago
29,443 82.5%
ATL → DTW
Detroit
27,906 82.3%
DTW → ATL
Atlanta
27,904 84.6%
MCO → DTW
Detroit
21,666 77.4%
DTW → MCO
Orlando
21,656 80.5%

Top routes from IAH

Route Flights On-Time
IAH → DFW
Dallas/Fort Worth
30,197 76.6%
DFW → IAH
Houston
30,188 76.3%
IAH → LAX
Los Angeles
28,113 83.4%
LAX → IAH
Houston
28,102 86.2%
IAH → DEN
Denver
27,947 80%
IAH → ORD
Chicago
27,946 81%

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.