MSP airport beats national average for on-time departures

While it might not always feel like it, on-time departures at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport have improved, according to a new report (pdf) by the Brookings Institution. Our airport was among 14 of 26 domestic hubs that beat the national average.

According to the report, 82.2 percent of incoming flights to MSP were on time, which means nine percent more on-time arrivals compared to the previous year. When delays do happen, they last for an average of 54 minutes, which represents 8 percent less sitting-around time than a year ago. (The longest delays: Chicago and New York.)

The report shows that the annualized passenger count (as of March 2009) at MSP dipped six percent from the previous year here, but was down only a percentage point over five years ago. That’s part of a national trend: while flights and passenger levels jumped by over 60 percent from 1990 to 2008, these numbers started declining last September and continue to do so today, in the first dip in air travel since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York.