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Domestic Tarmac Times by Airport

Type:

Year:

Start Month: To:

Tarmac Min: Max:

Tarmac Home Back

Data available through January 2024. Please limit search using dropdowns to a single calendar year. Data begins with January 1995. See New Tarmac Time Data Q&A. for explanation of reporting changes in October 2008 and August 2011.

Airport	Tarmac Times		Stage of Operation					Departing Flights*
Airport	Total	Percent of Regularly Scheduled Flights	Prior To Cancellation	Multiple Gate Departure	Taxi-Out	Taxi-In	At Diversion Airport	Departing Flights*
Newark, NJ (EWR)	60	0.04	36	19	2	3	0	151,031
New York, NY (JFK)	43	0.03	22	19	1	1	0	133,049
New York, NY (LGA)	40	0.02	16	18	0	6	0	167,079
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW)	18	0.01	4	3	2	0	9	290,421
Philadelphia, PA (PHL)	15	0.01	10	5	0	0	0	108,264
Atlanta, GA (ATL)	9	0.00	1	2	0	6	0	336,911
Orlando, FL (MCO)	7	0.00	2	4	0	0	1	164,369
Chicago, IL (ORD)	7	0.00	0	3	0	4	0	295,154
Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)	6	0.01	4	2	0	0	0	89,835
Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)	5	0.00	0	2	1	0	2	109,521
Amarillo, TX (AMA)	4	0.07	0	0	0	0	4	5,828
Colorado Springs, CO (COS)	4	0.03	0	0	0	0	4	12,179
Miami, FL (MIA)	4	0.00	0	3	0	1	0	102,540
Minneapolis, MN (MSP)	4	0.00	3	0	1	0	0	123,242
San Francisco, CA (SFO)	4	0.00	0	4	0	0	0	138,507
Abilene, TX (ABI)	3	0.22	0	0	0	0	3	1,359
Cincinnati, OH (CVG)	3	0.01	0	0	0	3	0	41,793
Houston, TX (HOU)	3	0.01	0	2	0	0	1	55,407
Washington, DC (IAD)	3	0.00	0	0	0	2	1	75,251
Chicago, IL (MDW)	3	0.00	2	0	0	1	0	85,096
Baltimore, MD (BWI)	3	0.00	0	0	0	0	3	96,296
Boston, MA (BOS)	3	0.00	0	2	1	0	0	141,916
Washington, DC (DCA)	3	0.00	1	2	0	0	0	143,460
Durango, CO (DRO)	2	0.05	0	1	1	0	0	3,972
Lafayette, LA (LFT)	2	0.05	0	0	0	0	2	4,378
Key West, FL (EYW)	2	0.03	0	2	0	0	0	7,026
West Palm Beach/Palm Beach, FL (PBI)	2	0.01	1	0	0	0	1	27,166
Portland, OR (PDX)	2	0.00	0	0	0	2	0	67,129
Austin, TX (AUS)	2	0.00	0	1	0	0	1	93,574
Houston, TX (IAH)	2	0.00	1	1	0	0	0	156,508
Seattle, WA (SEA)	2	0.00	1	0	0	1	0	181,218
Bismarck/Mandan, ND (BIS)	1	0.03	1	0	0	0	0	3,522
Idaho Falls, ID (IDA)	1	0.03	0	0	0	0	1	3,662
Valparaiso, FL (VPS)	1	0.01	0	0	0	1	0	9,109
Pensacola, FL (PNS)	1	0.01	0	0	0	1	0	12,325
Fayetteville, AR (XNA)	1	0.01	1	0	0	0	0	13,022
Des Moines, IA (DSM)	1	0.01	0	0	1	0	0	15,275
Syracuse, NY (SYR)	1	0.01	0	0	0	0	1	15,519
Rochester, NY (ROC)	1	0.01	0	0	0	0	1	16,379
Tulsa, OK (TUL)	1	0.01	0	0	0	0	1	17,991
Savannah, GA (SAV)	1	0.01	0	1	0	0	0	19,265
Albuquerque, NM (ABQ)	1	0.00	0	0	0	0	1	24,202
Charleston, SC (CHS)	1	0.00	0	1	0	0	0	25,381
Milwaukee, WI (MKE)	1	0.00	0	1	0	0	0	28,197
San Antonio, TX (SAT)	1	0.00	0	0	0	0	1	40,178
Indianapolis, IN (IND)	1	0.00	0	0	0	0	1	45,750
San Jose, CA (SJC)	1	0.00	0	0	0	0	1	53,081
St. Louis, MO (STL)	1	0.00	0	0	0	0	1	65,432
Dallas, TX (DAL)	1	0.00	0	1	0	0	0	74,757
Charlotte, NC (CLT)	1	0.00	0	1	0	0	0	225,151
Total Airports	289	0.00	106	100	10	32	41	7,279,025

Note: Tarmac times for all flights by airlines reporting on-time data are available beginning with October 2008 data. From January 1995 through September 2008, airlines reporting on-time data reported only taxi-out and taxi-in times. Airlines currently reporting on-time data.

Note: Reporting changes due to mergers. Joint reporting begins after Federal Aviation Administration approval of a single operating certificate.
* Jan. 2006: US Airways (US) and America West (HP) start to report combined on-time data in January 2006 as US Airways (US).
* Oct. 2007: US Airways (US) and America West (HP) start to report combined traffic and financial data as US Airways (US).
* Jan. 2010: Delta (DL) and Northwest (NW) start to report jointly as Delta (DL).
* Jan. 2011: Continental Micronesia (CS) and Continental Airlines (CO) start to report jointly as Continental Airlines (CO).
* Jan. 2012: United (UA) and Continental (CO) start to report jointly as United (UA).
* Jan. 2012: Atlantic Southeast (EV) and ExpressJet (XE) start to report jointly as ExpressJet (EV). For data through December 2011, use the code EV for Atlantic Southeast, which will be displayed as (EV) ExpressJet, and the code XE for ExpressJet, which will be displayed as (XE) ExpressJet (1). Beginning with January 2012 data, use the code EV for ExpressJet.
• Endeavor (9E) operated as Pinnacle prior to August 2013. Envoy (MQ) operated as American Eagle prior to April 2014.
• Southwest (WN) and AirTran (FL) began reporting jointly as WN in January 2015 following their 2011 merger announcement.
• American (AA) and US Airways (US) began reporting jointly as AA in July 2015 following their 2013 merger announcement.

Note: Numbers found here may differ from those previously available on the BTS website and on the Air Travel Consumer Report. Beginning with the release of May 2010 data, lengthy tarmac times are measured as more than 3 hours (181 minutes plus). Previous releases used the measurement of 3 hours or more (180 minutes plus). 2-hour and 1-hour tarmac times have been changed to conform. Data from previous months on this application have been revised but may differ from the previously-released Air Travel Consumer Report Tables 11 and 12, which were not revised. Air Travel Consumer Report Tables 11 and 12, beginning with the release of May 2010 data in the July report, will reflect the change in measurement.

Note: Click on page headers, it will redirect to detail carrier summary of that specified link

Explanation of Stage of Operation
Prior to Cancellation: Flight left the gate but was cancelled at the origin airport
Multiple Gate Departure: Flight left the gate, then returned and then left again to resume normal operation. Tarmac time is the time before the return to the gate.
Taxi-out: The time between gate departure and wheels-off
Taxi-in: The time between wheels-on and gate arrival
At Diversion Airport: The tarmac time at the alternate airport

* Departing flights reported by 18 airlines reporting on-time data.

The number of reporting carriers has varied as follows:
1995: 10
1996: 10
1997: 10
1998: 10
1999: 10
2000: 10 (11 starting in November when Aloha Airlines started reporting for the first time)
2001: 12 (11 starting in November when Aloha Airlines ceased reporting for the first time)
2002: 10
2003: 17 (18 starting in November when Hawaiian Airlines started reporting)
2004: 19
2005: 20 (19 through April after which Frontier Airlines started reporting)
2006: 20 (19 through March after which Aloha Airlines started reporting for the second time)
2007: 20
2008: 19 (20 through February after which Aloha Airlines ceased reporting)
2009: 19
2010: 18
2011: 16
2012: 15
2013: 16
2014: 14
2015: 13 (14 through June after which American and US Airways began joint reporting)

2016: 12

2017: 12

2018: 17 (18 through March after which Alaska Airlines and Virgin America began joint reporting)

2019: 17

2020: 17

2021: 17