Fayetteville to Houston

What the Data Says About XNA to IAH

The Fayetteville to Houston corridor (XNA → IAH) covers roughly 438 miles and is served by 13 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 1,410 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 89.1% on-time rate with an average delay of 97.1 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 1,410 flights were recorded on this pairing — 56 cancelled (4.0%) and 3 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 13 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 1,410 total flights analyzed, the 89.1% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 97.1-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, Nov 2020 posted the best performance on this corridor at 97% on-time, while Jul 2020 came in at 81% on-time — a 16-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the XNA to IAH route, the combination of a 89.1% on-time rate, 97.1-minute average delay, 4.0% recent cancellation rate, and 13 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.