Reagan National Ranked America’s Least Reliable Major Airport

Reagan National Airport had the highest cancellation rate among major U.S. airports, at 2.8%, and was more likely than any other large airport to have its last scheduled flight called off, a new national ranking found. Los Angeles International Airport topped the list of most reliable airports.

The ranking assessed cancellations, delays and diversions, drawing on records from the U.S. aviation regulator and transportation department. It also found that nearly half of Reagan’s delays stemmed from incoming flights arriving late.

Los Angeles International averaged 5.7 other flights available that day to the same destination, the highest rate of flight recovery options in the ranking. It also had the lowest share of cancellations involving the last flight of the day.

Phoenix Sky Harbor ranked second for reliability, followed by Seattle-Tacoma, Salt Lake City and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta. San Francisco, Harry Reid in Las Vegas, Boston Logan, Detroit Metropolitan and Nashville rounded out the top 10.

After Reagan, the least reliable major airports were Dallas-Fort Worth and Newark Liberty. Miami, Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, LaGuardia, Tampa, Washington Dulles and George Bush Intercontinental completed the bottom 10. The ranking also placed the West Palm Beach airport named for President Donald J. Trump and Asheville Regional at the bottom of their respective medium-sized and small airport categories.