St. Louis to Phoenix

What the Data Says About STL to PHX

The St. Louis to Phoenix corridor (STL → PHX) covers roughly 1,262 miles and is served by 18 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 11,786 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 81.9% on-time rate with an average delay of 77.4 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 4,607 flights were recorded on this pairing — 24 cancelled (0.5%) and 7 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 18 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 11,786 total flights analyzed, the 81.9% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 77.4-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, Sep 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 88% on-time, while Jul 2024 came in at 67% on-time — a 21-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the STL to PHX route, the combination of a 81.9% on-time rate, 77.4-minute average delay, 0.5% recent cancellation rate, and 18 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.