You aren’t imagining it if you think air travel has gotten less reliable over time. Even though official on-time stats haven’t changed much, both scheduled travel times and the duration of delays have been getting longer.

New data show a three-hour delay in 2024 was 4.5 times more likely compared to 1990.  Delays of between one and one and a half hours are around twice as common as they were in the 1990s.

What’s the problem? Airport and air traffic control capacity hasn’t grown.

Earlier this year, President Trump promised a “great, computerized system” of air traffic control, something “brand new … done by two or three companies.”

We desperately need to enlist SpaceX and DOGE to help improve air safety and reduce flight delays. It’s the only way we will be able to Make Air Travel Great Again.