ATLANTA, GA – Airplanes and flights are part of Atlanta’s identity, which is what happens when a city is home to the busiest airport in the entire country. As a result, millions of travelers from around the United States and around the world have experienced flights to, from, and connecting in Georgia’s state capital.

A new analysis of government data on flight delays shows just how Atlanta is performing compared to airports around the country, and the results are honestly pretty positive.

While Atlanta passengers have experienced the second-most overall delays over the last five years, that actually indicates the city is comparatively over performing. Hartsfield-Jackson has seen at least 9 million more passengers board flights than any other airport in America in every year of the analysis, a figure that represents around 25% more passengers than any other flight hub in the country.

Given those numbers, it would be understandable if Atlanta experienced the most flight delays of any city in the country based on the law of averages, but that is not actually the case.

Instead, Chicago takes the top spot, with over 6,000 MORE delays happening in the Second City than in Atlanta over the course of the five years involved in the analysis.

While the combined passenger traffic of Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports is similar to Hartsfield-Jackson’s, Atlanta does still edge them out in total passenger numbers.

Perhaps a better testament to Atlanta’s efficiency is the fact that flights departing from the ATL were delayed at a rate comparable to Dallas/Fort Worth, with Dallas experiencing less than 2,000 fewer delays.

Given that over 18 million more passengers go through Atlanta every single year, to be in the same ballpark as DFW in terms of delays is notable.