Metro

NYC’s airports worst for delays

New York’s airports have the worst on-time arrival rate in the country — and departures are chronically late, too, according to new federal data.

The Department of Transportation looked at flight arrivals and departures at 29 major airports last year and analyzed the number of flights that took off or landed within 15 minutes of scheduled times.

For arrivals, Newark Airport was the biggest loser, coming in dead last, with only about 70 percent of flights on time.

La Guardia Airport did only slightly better, ranking 28th, with only 72 percent of arriving flights on schedule — a dip from almost 77 percent the year before.

And at JFK, only 75 percent of flights were punctual, down from 80.5 percent the year before. It was ranked 25th.

George Llarena, 31, a fire and safety inspector from Bayside, Queens, blasted the late flights at La Guardia on Thursday.

“New York City is the mecca of financial-business cities, so it is extremely important to be on time,” he said. “This is embarrassing — an airport in New York ranked second to last! Something needs to be done.”

Elan Prah, 54, said he has gotten used to the delays.

“It has always been this bad,” he said. “I’ve used all three airports, and this is the worst.”

New York-area airports did better with takeoffs, but not by much. Newark was ranked 26th, with about 27 percent of flights taking off late.

At JFK, about 23 percent of flights were tardy, bringing its rank to 20th.

And La Guardia was ranked 17th, with 22 percent of takeoffs late.

“That’s rude,” said Kristian Grant, 26, of Michigan, who flies to New York for business. “It doesn’t [seem] like being on time is a priority for them. It’s definitely not OK.”

Salt Lake City was ranked the most punctual airport, with about 85 percent of arrivals and departures on time.

The advocacy group Global Gateway Alliance said the FAA should speed up implementation of NextGen, an overhaul of the nation’s congested airspace that’s not slated for completion until 2025.

About 12 percent of delays at New York City’s airports last year were caused by delays in the National Airspace System, compared with less than 4 percent at Salt Lake City.

“New York’s airports have been the worst in the nation for delays for too long — and 2013 was the same story,” said GGA Chairman Joe Sitt. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We have more advanced satellite technology in people’s smartphones than on our planes.”

Vice President Joe Biden said last week if he blindfolded people and took them to La Guardia Airport, they would think they were in “some third-world country.”

Immigrant workers there then told The Post that it’s actually worse than their homelands.

The Post also revealed recently that New York City airports are at the bottom globally when it comes to amenities that could make long waits more bearable.