Des Moines International in August 2023

78.5%departed on time

BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report.

In August 2023, reporting carriers scheduled 1,278 domestic departures from Des Moines International (DSM). 78.5% left less than 15 minutes late and 78.8% reached their destination on time; 1.3% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 76.7% of flights departed on time and 76.9% arrived on time, so DSM departures were 1.8 points above the national departure figure.

Flights arriving at DSM that month were on time 72.6% of the time (1,279 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 42%, air carrier 39% and national aviation system 17%.

On time 78.8%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 19.8%
Cancelled 1.3%
Diverted 0.1%

Every scheduled departure from DSM in August 2023, judged by arrival at the destination.

August 2023 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Aug 2023	Year earlier	DSM, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Aug 2023
Departed on time	78.5%	—	78.5%	76.7%
Arrived on time	78.8%	—	77.3%	76.9%
Cancelled	1.3%	—	2.5%	1.5%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	16.9 min	—	20.8 min	17.3 min
Scheduled departures a day	43	—	43	20,100
Scheduled departures	1,278	—	15,584	602,987

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
AA American Airlines	234	18%	80.8%	14.8 min	0.0%
9E Endeavor Air	218	17%	81.7%	9.1 min	0.5%
UA United Airlines	208	16%	82.7%	3.5 min	2.9%
WN Southwest Airlines	151	12%	65.6%	9.1 min	1.3%
G4 Allegiant Air	143	11%	67.8%	13.2 min	0.7%
DL Delta Air Lines	93	7%	80.6%	4.6 min	3.2%
OO SkyWest Airlines	73	6%	80.8%	3.9 min	1.4%
YX Republic Airline	55	4%	87.3%	-1.5 min	1.8%
MQ Envoy Air	53	4%	83.0%	-2.0 min	1.9%
OH PSA Airlines	36	3%	100.0%	-13.0 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	14	1%	71.4%	1.2 min	7.1%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
DSM–DEN	Des Moines to Denver	225	74.2%	5.7 min	1.8%
DSM–ORD	Des Moines to Chicago	163	81.6%	4.2 min	2.5%
DSM–DFW	Des Moines to Dallas/Fort Worth	124	79.8%	19.1 min	0.0%
DSM–ATL	Des Moines to Atlanta	93	80.6%	4.6 min	3.2%
DSM–MSP	Des Moines to Minneapolis	89	80.9%	5.8 min	0.0%
DSM–DTW	Des Moines to Detroit	79	83.5%	11.0 min	1.3%
DSM–LGA	Des Moines to New York	77	81.8%	9.0 min	1.3%
DSM–CLT	Des Moines to Charlotte	62	88.7%	-2.2 min	0.0%
DSM–DCA	Des Moines to Washington	62	95.2%	-9.8 min	0.0%
DSM–PHX	Des Moines to Phoenix	62	77.4%	17.8 min	0.0%
DSM–STL	Des Moines to St. Louis	58	72.4%	7.8 min	1.7%
DSM–IAH	Des Moines to Houston	31	83.9%	-2.7 min	6.5%

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), August 2023.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Aug 2023	Minutes
Air carrier	38.9%	36.7%	7,739
Late-arriving aircraft	41.9%	42.2%	8,339
National Aviation System	16.7%	15.7%	3,328
Extreme weather	2.3%	5.1%	463
Security	0.1%	0.2%	27

19,896 delay minutes on 253 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Questions and answers

How many flights left DSM on time in August 2023?

78.5% of 1,278 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 78.8% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 76.7% and 76.9%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

August 2022 is outside the 36 months on file, or the airport had too few reported flights that month.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for August 2023; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for DSM · methodology · corrections.