Tri-Cities Airport shows high percentage of on-time flights
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) publishes the number of delays and cancellations at airports across the United States, and the BTS report for 2023 found that the Tri-Cities Airport (TRI) had a high number of flights arriving and leaving on time.
Out of the 2,756 flights arriving at the Tri-Cities Airport, 85.96% of them arrived on time, beating out Nashville (BNA) at 78.67% and Chattanooga (CHA) at 82.31%.
TRI also surpassed the national average of 78.22%.
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“We are actually in the very high percentile of on-time percent,” said Kristi Haulsee, Director of Marketing and Air Service Development at the Tri-Cities Airport. “And much well above the national average, almost 10% higher.”
Regarding delayed flights, TRI saw 13.17% of its flights delayed, falling beneath the national average of 20.25% and that of other airports in the state.
Haulsee said factors out of their control can cause those delays.
“It could be weather,” Haulsee said. “It could be the traffic back up, so to speak, at another airport, there could be fog at the other airport.”
While the percentages of on-time arrivals and departures are high, TRI only saw 5,511 flights in 2023, the least amount of flights among other Tennessee airports. A number Haulsee hoped could eventually grow.
“If you fly local, the airlines take notice of that,” said Haulsee. “And they will be much more willing to add additional flights if they know our local passengers are flying from here.”
A chart comparing other state airports can be found below:
National Average | TRI | TYS | CHA | BNA | MEM | AVL | |
Delayed departures | 78.22% | 85.96% | 77.37% | 82.31% | 78.67% | 76.62% | 79.54% |
# of Arrivals | n/a | 2,756 | 13,952 | 5,828 | 96,495 | 23,065 | 11,214 |
DEPARTURES (on time) | 78.47% | 87.62% | 84.17% | 84.02% | 78.38% | 81.34% | 78.54% |
# of Departures | n/a | 2,755 | 13,953 | 5,825 | 96,489 | 23,067 | 11,211 |
DELAYED Arrivals | 20.25% | 13.17% | 21.59% | 16.78% | 20.03% | 21.72% | 21.8% |
DELAYED departures | 20.25% | 11.58% | 21.59% | 16.78% | 20.45% | 17.18% | 20.34% |
CANCELLED arrivals | 1.28% | 0.73% | 0.84% | 0.74% | 1.08% | 1.53% | 1.04% |
CANCELLED departures | 1.28% | 0.80% | 0.95% | 0.77% | 1.17% | 1.48% | 1.12% |
Total flights | n/a | 5,511 | 27,905 | 11,653 | 192,984 | 46,132 | 22,425 |
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