This Is the Best US Airport for Summer Travel

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jul 6, 8:02AM EDT · Published Jun 16, 11:00AM EDT

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This Is the Best US Airport for Summer Travel — © Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport DTW (CC BY-SA 3.0) by Dehk

A number of factors have combined to make air travel harder now than it’s been in years, including staff shortages (from pilots and onboard crews to baggage handlers and other ground personnel); increasingly unstable weather; and disruptive passenger violence, which has exploded since the beginning of the pandemic. (See 50 ways air travel has changed over the last 100 years.)

Nonetheless, in the face of these challenges, some airports manage to maintain a good on-time performance record. And by this measure, the best U.S. airport for summer travel is apt to be Minneapolis/St. Paul International.

To determine what are likely to be the best U.S. airports for summer travel this year, based on on-time arrivals and departures for 2021, 24/7 Tempo reviewed the annual airport rankings published by AirHelp, a claims management company associated with the Association of Passenger Rights Advocates.

Click here to see the best U.S. airports for summer travel

The AirHelp data, covering on-time performance for over 100,000 flights last year, is based on flight information displays, transponders and airport radar terminals, and air traffic control systems, among other sources, and is self-reported. Information on annual domestic arrivals, departures, and primary airline at each airport in 2021 comes from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Bear in mind that this data may be misleading to the extent that problems affecting on-time performance have worsened over the past year, and even the best-run airports have likely been affected. (These are the 10 busiest airports in the world.)

10. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
> Primary airline: American (21.6% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 19.8 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 19.8 million
> On time performance, 2021: 81.06%

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9. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
> Primary airline: American (37.6% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 9.3 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 9.3 million
> On time performance, 2021: 82.64%

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8. Boston Edward L Logan International Airport (BOS)
> Primary airline: JetBlue (29.8% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 9.9 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 9.9 million
> On time performance, 2021: 83.02%

7. Seattle Tacoma Airport (SEA)
> Primary airline: Alaska (46.6% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 16.6 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 16.6 million
> On time performance, 2021: 83.40%

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6. Charlotte Airport (CLT)
> Primary airline: American (60.5% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 19.9 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 19.9 million
> On time performance, 2021: 83.93%

5. Salt Lake City Airport (SLC)
> Primary airline: Delta (54.4% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 10.5 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 10.5 million
> On time performance, 2021: 84.44%

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Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int... by redlegsfan21

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int... (CC BY-SA 2.0) by redlegsfan21

4. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL)
> Primary airline: Delta (69.3% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 33.9 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 33.9 million
> On time performance, 2021: 84.97%

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3. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
> Primary airline: United (38.4% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 10.1 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 10.1 million
> On time performance, 2021: 85.14%

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport DTW by Dehk

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport DTW (CC BY-SA 3.0) by Dehk

2. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW)
> Primary airline: Delta (49.5% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 11.0 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 11.0 million
> On time performance, 2021: 85.96%

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Delta Sky Club Lounge at Minne... by Tony Webster

Delta Sky Club Lounge at Minne... (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Tony Webster

1. Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport (MSP)
> Primary airline: Delta (51.0% of passenger traffic)
> Domestic arrivals, 2021: 11.8 million
> Domestic departures, 2021: 11.8 million
> On time performance, 2021: 86.24%

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.