Harry Reid International Airport had the most flight delays of any major U.S. airport in fiscal year 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a recent report.
The FAA, which uses data collected from air traffic controllers nationwide, said there were 29,763 flight delays at Reid this fiscal year — more than 9,500 more than the next busiest airport, New York’s LaGuardia International Airport. The total at Reid is also more than double the number recorded in fiscal year 2022 and more than five times higher than the average number for fiscal years 2017-19.
A Reid spokesman said late Thursday that many factors played a role in the numerous flight delays at Las Vegas airport, including extensive runway renovations.
“This includes weather conditions not only in Southern Nevada, but across the country, that can cause a domino effect on flights arriving and departing from LAS,” said Monika Bertaki, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Aviation Authority.
“Commercially, we have had an influx of air traffic at LAS post-pandemic, while the number of aircraft that can take off and land with a given configuration has remained the same,” she said. “Add to that, the influx of general air traffic into the region competes for the number of departures per hour on peak days and times. Finally, we completed runway improvements in the spring and summer of 2023 to reconfigure four taxiways and relocate two runways. During runway construction, sections were closed, reducing the number of departures and arrivals at any given hour.”
Among the 30 major airports across the country, Reid International had the worst performance with delays of 15 minutes or more. The four worst airports behind Reid were LaGuardia (20,019 delays in fiscal year 2023), Newark, Liberty International in New Jersey (13,729 delays), San Francisco International (12,303) and Denver International (9,570).
The fewest delays in fiscal year 2023: Salt Lake City International with 231 delays.
The FAA reported a total of 153,312 delays at the 30 major airports.
Delays are decreasing nationwide
While delays at Reid International Airport skyrocketed last year, delays nationwide fell 50.6 percent from the previous year, the FAA said.
Punctuality has improved despite the increase in the number of flights nationwide, the FAA said.
According to the report, the number of operations rose by 3.8 percent to 12.2 million. Both an entry and a departure count as one operation.
Ten U.S. airports, including Reid, saw operations increase above pre-pandemic 2017-19 levels. Airports that exceeded pre-pandemic levels include Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Reid, John F. Kennedy in New York, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Orlando, Honolulu, Ronald Reagan National in Washington and Tampa.
With 603,015, Reid ranks fifth in the airport statistics, behind Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (762,526 flights), Chicago O’Hare International (716,920), Dallas-Fort Worth (675,807) and Denver (647,440).
The FAA has five categories that show the types of delays at the nation’s airports. The agency reported in fiscal year 2023 that weather caused 54.5 percent of delays, traffic volume 21.5 percent, equipment 6.2 percent, runway problems 17.8 percent and “other” 0.1 percent.
Reid also recorded the ninth highest number of cancellations in fiscal year 2023, with 3,515. The airport with the most cancellations was Denver (6,837), followed by LaGuardia (6,672), Newark (6,440), Dallas-Fort Worth (6,043), Chicago O’Hare (5,669), Atlanta (4,138), New York JFK (4,125), Orlando (3,932) and then Reid. The airport with the fewest cancellations: Honolulu (865).
Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
