Southwest Airlines On-Time Performance and Flight Delay Analysis.

This is a Southwest Airlines On-Time performance report and Flight Delay analysis for May 2022.

Southwest Airlines On-time Dashboard by Author (Musili Adebayo)

Airline On-time Performance (OTP) is the most critical metric and the widely accepted method for understanding airlines’ reliability and punctuality. A flight is considered to be “on time” when the departure or arrival occurs within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

This analysis was carried out in Power BI and a link to the dataset can be found in the reference section of this article. If you prefer to watch a video of the analysis, see the video explanation below.

You can also interact with the Dashboard here.

Southwest Airlines and On-Time Performance Dashboard by Author (Musili Adebayo)

1. The Executive Summary.
   This executive summary of Southwest Airlines for May 2022 shows that out of the 108,027 flights scheduled, only 107,218 flight was operated, and they eventually canceled 809 fights. It takes an average of 12 minutes for aircraft to taxi out of the airports.

Southwest Airlines Executive Summary View by Author (Musili Adebayo)

2. The Airline On-Time Performance Tracker.
Denver International Airport (DEN) was their busiest airport in May 2022 with 6,609 flights and Southwest Airlines is the biggest operator of the Boeing 737 aircraft with 719 fleets in May 2022.

Other Key Insights Include:
- Corpus Christi Airport (CRP) was the On-time leader with 94.83%.
- Daily on-time calendar in May ranges from 60% to 85%.
- Oakland(OAK) to Burbank (BUR) and Burbank (BUR) back to Oakland(OAK) are Southwest Airlines’ top destinations in May 2022.

Southwest Airlines On-time Dashboard by Author (Musili Adebayo)

3. The On-Time Comparison — Ranking Southwest Airlines and other U.S. Commercial Airlines.
Over 18,000 flights ply the U.S. sky daily, resulting in 567,434 total traffic in May 2022. At the time, I was carrying out this analysis, only 17 airlines reports to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation statistics.

Key Insights include:
- Southwest Airlines had an on-time rank of 13 out of 17 (74.36%).
- Delta Airlines and Republic Airline has as the highest number of cancellations (2,227 and 1,954 respectively).

Southwest Airlines On-time performance ranking with other commercial airlines by Author (Musili Adebayo)

4. Flight Delay Analysis.
About 25.54% of Southwest Airlines was delayed, with the top delay group varying between 45 to 59 minutes.

Key Insights Include:
- Late arrival of aircraft was the biggest reason for delay resulting in 46.72% of the total causes of delay.

I carefully explained the different reasons for delays, read up on the article here.

Southwest Airlines On-time Dashboard by Author (Musili Adebayo)

5. Southwest Airlines Destinations
Southwest Airlines cover every U.S. state except for Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Vermont. You can also see that they go to areas outside the U.S. like Puerto Rico from Florida.

Please if you know why they don’t go to these destinations listed above, I will appreciate feedback/clarification in the comment section.

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Conclusion.
Southwest Airlines had a good punctuality rate in May 2022 with an On-Time Performance(OTP) of 74.36%. Late arrival of aircraft was the biggest cause of flight delays. Southwest Airlines remains the biggest operator of the Boeing 737 series aircraft.

Thank you for reading.

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References.

1. Musili Adebayo (2022): 7 Reasons Why your flight could be delayed Medium.
2. Data Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics Website. DOT Website.
3. Fleet Data Source: Planespotter.com