Report: Phoenix Sky Harbor ranks among least-stressful airports

By Matt Loeschman
Mail | X: @MattLoeschman

For travelers flying out of Phoenix, getting to the airport may be one of the easier parts of the trip.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport ranked as the sixth-least stressful major airport in the United States in a new analysis of 55 major airports nationwide. The analysis by Rightway Parking combined flight data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics with driving information from Google Maps.

The study considered five factors equally: 2025 flight delays, 2025 cancellations, changes in delay rates between 2021 and 2025, driving distance from downtown and driving time from downtown.

Sky Harbor was the only Arizona airport included in the analysis.

Low cancellation rate stands out

Phoenix’s cancellation numbers were among the strongest in the study. According to Bureau of Transportation Statistics flight data analyzed by Rightway Parking, just 0.71% of flights at Sky Harbor were canceled in 2025. That was the sixth-lowest cancellation rate among the 55 airports. Only Salt Lake City, San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland and Los Angeles International had lower cancellation rates.

The low cancellation rate, however, didn’t mean Phoenix travelers avoided delays. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics data showed that 20.92% of Sky Harbor flights were delayed in 2025. In other words, more than one out of every five flights experienced a delay.

That was the highest delay rate among the 10 airports ranked as least stressful by Rightway Parking. Phoenix was the only airport in that group with a delay rate above 20%.

Nine-minute drive from downtown

Sky Harbor’s accessibility also played an important role in its ranking. Using Google Maps data, Rightway Parking recorded a drive of approximately four miles and nine minutes from downtown Phoenix to Sky Harbor.

That was tied for the third-shortest recorded downtown-to-airport drive among the airports in the study. Omaha and Albuquerque were slightly quicker, at eight minutes.

The Google Maps figures represent driving conditions when the data was collected and aren’t intended to guarantee how long a trip to the airport will take. Still, the relatively short distance helps distinguish Sky Harbor from some of the nation’s larger airports. For example, Rightway’s analysis using Google Maps data recorded a 35-minute drive from downtown Denver to Denver International Airport, compared with nine minutes for Sky Harbor.

Phoenix compares with other major airports

The flight numbers also put Phoenix in an interesting position compared with other Western airports.

According to Bureau of Transportation Statistics data used by Rightway, Denver had a 25.40% delay rate in 2025, compared with Phoenix’s 20.92%. Los Angeles International Airport had an even lower delay rate, at 18.01%, according to the same BTS data. But Rightway’s Google Maps data showed a 45-minute recorded drive from downtown Los Angeles to LAX, compared with nine minutes from downtown Phoenix to Sky Harbor.

Those comparisons help explain the study’s methodology. The ranking wasn’t based solely on how often flights were delayed. Airport accessibility was also part of the calculation.

Small increase in delays

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics data analyzed by Rightway Parking also showed that Phoenix’s delay rate increased by 4.65% between 2021 and 2025.

Among the 50 airports where delay rates increased during that period, Phoenix had the second-smallest relative increase. Albuquerque had the smallest increase, at 1.79%. Five airports in the study saw their delay rates decline between 2021 and 2025.

Comparison to DFW

The differences become even more noticeable when Phoenix is compared with the airport that ranked most stressful in the study, Dallas/Fort Worth International.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics data used in the Rightway analysis, DFW had a 2.76% cancellation rate in 2025, compared with 0.71% at Sky Harbor. DFW also had a 27.86% delay rate, compared with Phoenix’s 20.92%.

Western airports dominate least-stressful list

The 10 airports ranked least stressful by Rightway Parking, using its analysis of BTS and Google Maps data, were:

• Salt Lake City
• San Jose
• Honolulu
• Albuquerque
• Reno-Tahoe
• Phoenix Sky Harbor
• Anchorage
• Sacramento
• Oakland
• Omaha Eppley Airfield

The 10 airports at the other end of the ranking were Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare, Ronald Reagan Washington National, John F. Kennedy, Philadelphia, LaGuardia, Denver, Detroit Metropolitan, Washington Dulles and Charlotte Douglas.

For Phoenix travelers, the numbers tell a more nuanced story than the sixth-place ranking alone. Bureau of Transportation Statistics data shows Sky Harbor had one of the nation’s lowest cancellation rates, while Google Maps data shows it is relatively close to downtown. At the same time, BTS data shows that more than 20% of Phoenix flights were delayed in 2025.

In other words, Sky Harbor’s favorable overall ranking comes from a combination of flight reliability and airport accessibility, rather than from having the lowest delay rate in the country.

Matt Loeschman
Managing Editor | West Valley

mloeschman@iniusa.org

Meet Matt

Matt Loeschman has had two separate stints at Independent Newsmedia. He began as a reporter covering Peoria and later Surprise from 2000-2009. In 2017, he returned to Arizona and INI as the news editor of the Daily News-Sun (now the Phoenix Independent). He previously covered the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League for more than a decade.

Community: During high school football season since 2017, he contributes live postgame radio reports to the AzPreps 365 Friday Night Football Wrapup Show. He supports organizations such as Phoenix Children’s, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley and the American Cancer Society.

Education: The University of Texas at Austin majoring in Journalism-News and Public Affairs. 

Random Fact: He can sing and he has been fortunate to meet many famous people during his journalism career including First Lady Hillary Clinton, King of Country Music George Strait and Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. Attended all 4 home games of the 2001 World Series.

Hobbies: Watching and playing a wide variety of sports, including golf, tennis, pickleball and softball. Playing PlayStation 5, working out, shopping and reading.