Los Angeles International Airport, the nation’s second busiest airport, is expected to be No. 1 in an unfortunate category: the percentage of delayed flights during the long Thanksgiving travel crush.

A study by Flightaware.com, a flight tracking website, concluded that LAX outranked all other airports during last year’s Thanksgiving holiday in the percentage of flights delayed more than 15 minutes.

LAX reported 27% of its flights delayed, followed by San Francisco International Airport with 26%. Newark Liberty International Airport ranked third with 25%, and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas was fourth with 22%.

There is no guarantee that LAX will report the same rate of delays during this holiday period, but airport officials note that the total number of landings and takeoffs this year will be little changed from last year’s — 18,230 scheduled compared to 18,020 flights in 2016.


Also, Flightaware.com points out that there are no major storms forecast across the nation for the holiday week.

Still, no matter how many delays are reported at LAX, the airport will be packed with frustrated travelers. LAX is expected to serve 2.38 million fliers during the 11-day holiday period, up 2.3% over the same period last year, according to LAX officials.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter.