Phoenix Sky Harbor named among top airports for on-time summer travel

PHOENIX — If you’re looking to get to your summer vacation destination on time, the Phoenix airport is the place to be.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was ranked the No. 4 best for on-time summer travel out of the nation’s 50 busiest airports by finance website CompareCards.

“That basically means that if you’re flying in or out of Phoenix, you’ve got about an 82% chance of arriving on time, and that’s a really big deal, as anyone who travels can attest,” Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Monday.

“Part of the reason why Phoenix ranks so well is that the weather there is really good, and also a lot of Western states rank really high … partially because it’s a little less crowded out West in terms of air travel as it is in, say, the Northeast.”

Sky Harbor proved to be punctual all year round. The website found that it averaged 83% on-time arrivals from 2009 to 2018 throughout all the seasons, not just summer.

Timeliness tends to peak for the airport in the fall, when, on average, 86% of arrivals were on schedule in that time period.

The three worst airports for on-time summer travel were Newark-Liberty, New York-LaGuardia and San Francisco, all three of which had rates less than 70%.

“If you’re going to the New York area, you may want to plan a little extra time at the airport,” Schulz said.

Honolulu’s airport was ranked No. 1 with 89% of summer flights arriving on time, followed by Salt Lake City and Orange County.

Schulz recommended taking nonstop flights or the first flight of the day to minimize chances of delays.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.

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