BTS | Transtats - Domestic Tarmac Times by Year, Partial Year or Month

Data available through August 2024. Please limit search using dropdowns to a single calendar year. Data begins with January 1995. See New Tarmac Time Data Q&A. for explanation of reporting changes in October 2008 and August 2011.
Note: For detailed monthly summary for a single year, click on the link for the year. View tarmac times by Airport or Airline

Year	Tarmac Times		Stage of Operation					Number of Regularly Scheduled Flights
Year	Total	Percent of Regularly Scheduled Flights	Prior To Cancellation	Multiple Gate Departure	Taxi-Out	Taxi-In	At Diversion Airport	Number of Regularly Scheduled Flights
2018	161	0.00	54	67	2	28	10	5,252,587
2019	253	0.00	86	87	7	58	15	5,403,015
2020	51	0.00	0	3	3	38	7	3,515,176
2021	103	0.00	11	30	1	48	13	3,991,651
2022	276	0.01	107	91	15	39	24	4,691,967
2023	219	0.00	81	64	8	29	37	4,832,454
2024	378	0.01	114	119	17	86	42	5,022,495

Note: Tarmac times for all flights by airlines reporting on-time data are available beginning with October 2008 data. From January 1995 through September 2008, airlines reporting on-time data reported only taxi-out and taxi-in times. Airlines currently reporting on-time data.

Note: Reporting changes due to mergers. Joint reporting begins after Federal Aviation Administration approval of a single operating certificate.
* Jan. 2006: US Airways (US) and America West (HP) start to report combined on-time data in January 2006 as US Airways (US).
* Oct. 2007: US Airways (US) and America West (HP) start to report combined traffic and financial data as US Airways (US).
* Jan. 2010: Delta (DL) and Northwest (NW) start to report jointly as Delta (DL).
* Jan. 2011: Continental Micronesia (CS) and Continental Airlines (CO) start to report jointly as Continental Airlines (CO).
* Jan. 2012: United (UA) and Continental (CO) start to report jointly as United (UA).
* Jan. 2012: Atlantic Southeast (EV) and ExpressJet (XE) start to report jointly as ExpressJet (EV). For data through December 2011, use the code EV for Atlantic Southeast, which will be displayed as (EV) ExpressJet, and the code XE for ExpressJet, which will be displayed as (XE) ExpressJet (1). Beginning with January 2012 data, use the code EV for ExpressJet.
• Endeavor (9E) operated as Pinnacle prior to August 2013. Envoy (MQ) operated as American Eagle prior to April 2014.
• Southwest (WN) and AirTran (FL) began reporting jointly as WN in January 2015 following their 2011 merger announcement.
• American (AA) and US Airways (US) began reporting jointly as AA in July 2015 following their 2013 merger announcement.

Note: Numbers found here may differ from those previously available on the BTS website and on the Air Travel Consumer Report. Beginning with the release of May 2010 data, lengthy tarmac times are measured as more than 3 hours (181 minutes plus). Previous releases used the measurement of 3 hours or more (180 minutes plus). 2-hour and 1-hour tarmac times have been changed to conform. Data from previous months on this application have been revised but may differ from the previously-released Air Travel Consumer Report Tables 11 and 12, which were not revised. Air Travel Consumer Report Tables 11 and 12, beginning with the release of May 2010 data in the July report, will reflect the change in measurement.

Explanation of Stage of Operation
Prior to Cancellation: Flight left the gate but was cancelled at the origin airport
Multiple Gate Departure: Flight left the gate, then returned and then left again to resume normal operation. Tarmac time is the time before the return to the gate.
Taxi-out: The time between gate departure and wheels-off
Taxi-in: The time between wheels-on and gate arrival
At Diversion Airport: The tarmac time at the alternate airport

The number of reporting carriers has varied as follows:
1995: 10
1996: 10
1997: 10
1998: 10
1999: 10
2000: 10 (11 starting in November when Aloha Airlines started reporting for the first time)
2001: 12 (11 starting in November when Aloha Airlines ceased reporting for the first time)
2002: 10
2003: 17 (18 starting in November when Hawaiian Airlines started reporting)
2004: 19
2005: 20 (19 through April after which Frontier Airlines started reporting)
2006: 20 (19 through March after which Aloha Airlines started reporting for the second time)
2007: 20
2008: 19 (20 through February after which Aloha Airlines ceased reporting)
2009: 19
2010: 18
2011: 16
2012: 15
2013: 16
2014: 14
2015: 13 (14 through June after which American and US Airways began joint reporting)
2016: 12
2017: 12
2018: 17 (18 through March after which Alaska Airlines and Virgin America began joint reporting)
2019: 17
2020: 17
2021: 17

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