Flights leaving Bradley International Airport, the second-busiest airport in New England, are less likely to be delayed than flights leaving other nearby airports, federal data shows.
About 84% of departing flights for major carriers, and excluding freight and mail, from Bradley were on time from September 2023 through August 2024, compared to 82% at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., 79% at New York’s LaGuardia, 77% at Boston’s Logan and 77% at JFK Airport in New York, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
But when flights were delayed, the average wait of 75.27 minutes at Bradley was shorter than average delays at other airports in the region. At Westchester County Airport, the average delay was more than 102 minutes over the same period.
Across the United States for all airlines, not just major carriers, 78.1% of flights arrived on time from August 2023 to August 2024, slightly higher than Bradley International’s 75% on-time rate.
The most common reasons for delays of flights to Bradley were a previous flight with the same aircraft arrived late, or an air carrier delay.
The largest reason for flight delays were aircrafts arriving late. Nationally, around 7.61% of flights were delayed for this reason, in comparison to Bradley’s 9%.
The Thanksgiving travel period at Bradley International Airport is running from this past Friday, November 22, to Sunday, December 1, according to the airport’s press release on Thanksgiving travel. During this period, the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) projects that over 95,000 passengers will depart from BDL. After the holiday on Thursday, the busiest travel day this year is anticipated to be the Sunday immediately after Thanksgiving.