Des Moines International in October 2023

84.2%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 October 2023, reporting carriers scheduled 1,287 domestic departures from Des Moines International (DSM). 84.2% left less than 15 minutes late and 84.8% reached their destination on time; 0.3% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 83.8% of flights departed on time and 84.0% arrived on time, so DSM departures were level with the national departure figure.

Flights arriving at DSM that month were on time 81.9% of the time (1,286 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, air carrier 55%, late-arriving aircraft 30% and national aviation system 8%.

On time 84.8%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 14.8%
Cancelled 0.3%
Diverted 0.2%

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

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

Measure	Oct 2023	Year earlier	DSM, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Oct 2023
Departed on time	84.2%	—	78.5%	83.8%
Arrived on time	84.8%	—	77.3%	84.0%
Cancelled	0.3%	—	2.5%	0.4%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	15.3 min	—	20.8 min	11.0 min
Scheduled departures a day	43	—	43	19,966
Scheduled departures	1,287	—	15,584	598,968

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	216	17%	85.6%	4.2 min	0.9%
9E Endeavor Air	215	17%	92.6%	-5.0 min	0.0%
AA American Airlines	209	16%	80.9%	15.3 min	1.0%
WN Southwest Airlines	173	13%	82.7%	1.4 min	0.0%
G4 Allegiant Air	140	11%	69.3%	17.9 min	0.0%
DL Delta Air Lines	89	7%	95.5%	-2.1 min	0.0%
OH PSA Airlines	66	5%	90.9%	-6.1 min	0.0%
OO SkyWest Airlines	63	5%	82.5%	10.5 min	0.0%
MQ Envoy Air	61	5%	82.0%	1.6 min	0.0%
YX Republic Airline	41	3%	95.1%	5.3 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	14	1%	85.7%	-3.8 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
DSM–DEN	Des Moines to Denver	222	81.5%	3.6 min	0.5%
DSM–ORD	Des Moines to Chicago	167	88.0%	-0.4 min	0.0%
DSM–DFW	Des Moines to Dallas/Fort Worth	94	76.6%	36.1 min	2.1%
DSM–ATL	Des Moines to Atlanta	89	95.5%	-2.1 min	0.0%
DSM–MSP	Des Moines to Minneapolis	86	90.7%	-7.2 min	0.0%
DSM–DTW	Des Moines to Detroit	80	96.3%	-3.8 min	0.0%
DSM–LGA	Des Moines to New York	76	90.8%	3.0 min	0.0%
DSM–CLT	Des Moines to Charlotte	62	87.1%	-6.5 min	0.0%
DSM–DCA	Des Moines to Washington	62	93.5%	-7.1 min	0.0%
DSM–IAH	Des Moines to Houston	62	80.6%	18.4 min	1.6%
DSM–PHX	Des Moines to Phoenix	58	79.3%	4.4 min	0.0%
DSM–STL	Des Moines to St. Louis	58	82.8%	-0.3 min	0.0%

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), October 2023.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Oct 2023	Minutes
Air carrier	54.9%	41.3%	9,643
Late-arriving aircraft	29.9%	40.5%	5,257
National Aviation System	8.4%	14.4%	1,471
Extreme weather	6.8%	3.7%	1,196
Security	0.0%	0.2%	0

17,567 delay minutes on 190 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 October 2023?

84.2% of 1,287 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 84.8% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 83.8% and 84.0%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

October 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 October 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.