Staying grounded in the Sunshine State: Why Florida’s airports don’t want to take off

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport consists of four terminals with 66 gates. Last year, 35 million passengers flew to or from the airport.

Airline delays (delays due to technical, safety or runway problems) caused a large number of airport delays – 17,043 in total. A further 16,323 delays were partly due to conditions of the national aviation systems, which may include non-extreme weather conditions, airport operational problems, heavy traffic and air traffic control problems.

To find the country’s most unreliable airports, researchers at SOAX analyzed flight data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics between April 2023 and March 2024. For their purposes, a flight was considered delayed if it departed 15 minutes or more after the scheduled departure time.

And you don’t just have to worry about Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood – two other airports in Florida also made it into the top 10.

Orlando International Airport in Florida ranked fourth on the list with a delay rate of 27%, representing 45,171 out of 167,595 flights that were delayed. Of these, 26,292 flights were delayed due to domestic flight systems, while 26,180 flights were delayed due to airline delays.

In sixth place is Miami International Airport, where 25.5% or 27,002 of the 105,843 departures were delayed, with 16,536 flights delayed due to domestic flight systems and 16,023 due to airline delays.

Florida has 140 airports—20 of which serve scheduled and general aviation—making it the state with the most international and domestic airports in the United States.

This year there were numerous delays across the country due to bad weather.

In June, heavy rains and flooding caused delays to 29 flights and forced the cancellation of 77 flights from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, including 39 arrivals and 38 departures. Meanwhile, at Miami International Airport, the same rain caused the cancellation of 187 flights and delays to 47 more.

During the busy travel season on July 4, an “environmental issue at the facility” prompted the FAA to order a departure delay at Orlando International Airport, resulting in 100 delays and six canceled flights.

As Hurricane Debby approached the state in early August, over 1,300 flights were canceled and over 1,800 more were delayed in the U.S. Most of these disruptions affected Orlando International Airport, where 20 percent of scheduled flights were canceled and another 14 percent were delayed.

There were 248 delays and 155 cancellations at Miami International Airport – and another 212 delays and 127 cancellations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.

Other U.S. airports in the top 10 with the highest delay rate include Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall in Maryland in second place with a delay rate of nearly 29%. In third place is Aspen/Pitkin County Airport in Colorado with a delay rate of 27.5%.

Chicago Midway International Airport in Illinois ranks fifth with a delay rate of 26%, and Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada ranks seventh with a rate of 25.1%. Denver International Airport in Colorado ranks eighth with 24.8% of delayed departures.

Dallas Love Field in Texas ranks ninth with a rate of 23.7%, and rounding out the top 10 is Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, where 22.7% of flights were delayed last year.

“Identifying the airports with the highest delay rates provides important insights into their reliability,” said Stepan Solovev, CEO and co-founder of SOAX. “This ranking can help you in your next travel plans to avoid some of the high-ranking airports or anticipate potential disruptions, resulting in a smoother and less stressful trip.”