Richmond airport's on-time rate is better than average

Eighty-three percent of flights from Richmond International Airport departed on time in November 2022, per the latest Bureau of Transportation Statistics data.

• That's a significant improvement from last summer, when nationwide staff shortages and foul weather combined to muck up the complex, interconnected web that is the air travel system, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes.

The big picture: At the national level, airlines performed admirably throughout the fall of 2022, with on-time departure rates at or above 80% between September and November.

Zoom in: Across the 26 cities with Axios Local newsrooms, the Washington, D.C. area's Dulles International Airport had the best on-time performance in November 2022, at 88%.

• Denver — where brutal storms tend to snarl wintertime operations — had the lowest, at 76%.

Yes, but: This dataset doesn't include December's meltdown at Southwest Airlines, which led to thousands of cancellations and delays at that particular carrier nationwide.

• Breeze Airways, which operates multiple flights out of RIC, is also not included because it's "not large enough to be among the carriers required to report on-time data to BTS," the agency tells Axios.

Be smart: Because airlines' systems and routes are so interconnected, problems at one airport or in one region tend to cascade across the country.

• Foul weather in, say, Chicago can mean delays in Houston because planes get stuck and can't make their next planned leg.

The bottom line: Generally speaking, on-time performance tends to dip in the summer (thanks to thunderstorms and the vacation rush) and winter (due to blizzards and holiday crowds) and improve in the spring and fall.