Airline issues leading cause for flight delays, federal data shows

• The friction came to a head earlier this week when the Biden administration proposed a rule change that would require airlines to compensate travelers and cover some of their expenses if the airlines are responsible for flight cancellations or significant delays.
• The airline industry has opposed the proposal, with the International Air Transport Association arguing that it would raise air travel costs while doing little to address delays.

By the numbers: Flights were collectively delayed for more than 5.3 million hours between January 2019 and February 2023, according to Department of Transportation data.

• 1.6 million flights, 5.8% of all flights, were delayed because of circumstances within an airline's control, like maintenance and crew problems, aircraft cleaning and baggage loading.
• Delays caused by issues within the national aviation system, like the computer system outage in January 2023, delayed 1.3 million flights, or 4.7% of all flights in that time period.
• 1.5 million (5.7%) of flights were delayed by an inbound aircraft arriving late, though the data does not state the reason for the late arrival.
• Bad weather only delayed around 178,000 (0.65%) flights.

• Over 776,000 planned flights (2.8%) were canceled, while more than 63,000 (0.2%) were diverted, though the data did not specify the causes that led to the changes.

Yes but: Over those 50 months, 21.9 million flights (79.8%) arrived on time, which was in line with on-time arrival statistics over the previous decade.

The big picture: Compared to data from January 2009 through December 2018, the FAA has been responsible for fewer flight disruptions in recent years.

• Delays as a result of national airspace system disruptions fell by a percentage point from 5.7% to 4.7%.
• Comparing those same two timeframes, delays from air carrier issues slightly rose from 5.3% to 5.8%.

Go deeper: Why airline flyers are fuming