Planes now wait 28.8 minutes to take off at JFK, the longest since at least 2018
Published 2026-11-07 · By Pushbuild · Data: Airline On-Time Performance API – US Flight Delays and Cancellations
The average taxi-out at JFK was 28.8 minutes in 2025, up from 21.1 in 2021; O'Hare's rose from 20.8 in 2022 to 28.9 so far in 2026. Atlanta is quickest of the big hubs at 17.0.
“Airline on-time data are reported in 2021 to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the 17 U.S. air carriers that have at least 0.5 percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues.”
— Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Statistics
| Year | JFK | ORD | EWR | LGA | DCA | DEN | ATL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 27.5 | 22.5 | 23.5 | 26.3 | 19.4 | 17.1 | 17.0 |
| 2019 | 26.2 | 23.3 | 24.9 | 27.1 | 19.5 | 18.0 | 16.5 |
| 2020 | 18.8 | 20.1 | 19.7 | 18.9 | 15.8 | 16.2 | 14.5 |
| 2021 | 21.1 | 20.8 | 21.0 | 18.1 | 17.5 | 16.5 | 15.1 |
| 2022 | 26.2 | 20.8 | 23.8 | 25.0 | 20.7 | 17.1 | 15.4 |
| 2023 | 26.2 | 22.5 | 23.8 | 23.6 | 21.1 | 17.7 | 16.0 |
| 2024 | 26.3 | 23.8 | 24.3 | 23.5 | 20.9 | 18.4 | 16.5 |
| 2025 | 28.8 | 26.0 | 25.9 | 25.9 | 22.0 | 19.9 | 17.0 |
| 2026 | 28.3 | 28.9 | 24.4 | 25.8 | 22.8 | 20.3 | 17.5 |
Caveats
Minutes from gate to wheels-off, averaged over all departures. Our data starts in 2018. 2026 runs through August.
Sources
- Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Statistics, read through the Pushbuild Airline On-Time Performance API on 2026-11-07
Data as of 2026-11-07. Every figure in this post is in the table above and the CSV below.
Download the data behind this post: b3-taxi-out-minutes-by-year.csv
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