Houston to New Orleans

What the Data Says About IAH to MSY

The Houston to New Orleans corridor (IAH → MSY) covers roughly 305 miles and is served by 29 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 18,111 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 81.6% on-time rate with an average delay of 72.9 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 5,987 flights were recorded on this pairing — 117 cancelled (2.0%) and 8 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 29 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 18,111 total flights analyzed, the 81.6% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 72.9-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Oct 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 94% on-time, while Jul 2024 came in at 55% on-time — a 38-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the IAH to MSY route, the combination of a 81.6% on-time rate, 72.9-minute average delay, 2.0% recent cancellation rate, and 29 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.