Which US airline is the most on time?
Delta, among the airlines you can still book: 81.5% of its 1.04 million flights in the twelve months to July 2026 arrived on time, ahead of United (79.3%), Alaska (79.6%), Southwest (76.4%) and American (74.6%). JetBlue (72.3%), Spirit (72.8%) and Frontier (73.1%) were last. Hawaiian scored higher at 81.9% but stopped reporting separately in December 2025. The industry as a whole arrived on time 77.6% of the time and cancelled 1.8% of 7.0 million flights.
- 81.5%of Delta flights arrived on time, the best of the big four by six points over Southwest
- 72.3%JetBlue’s on-time rate, the lowest of the fourteen airlines that reported
- 4.3%of PSA Airlines flights were cancelled, the highest rate; Allegiant cancelled 0.7%
- 40%of all delay minutes were blamed on the inbound aircraft arriving late, more than any other cause
Based on 7,043,858 scheduled domestic flights by 14 reporting airlines between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026, and 235 million flights by 34 airlines since October 1987, as reported to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Explore the live data.
Which airline is most on time right now?
Delta: 81.5% of its flights arrived less than 15 minutes late between August 2025 and July 2026, with an average arrival delay of 3.9 minutes. Envoy (80.9%), Alaska (79.6%), United (79.3%) and SkyWest (79.0%) follow. Southwest, the biggest airline by flights, managed 76.4%, American 74.6%. The bottom three are Frontier (73.1%), Spirit (72.8%) and JetBlue (72.3%). Hawaiian’s 81.9% tops the table but covers only its last five months as a separate reporting airline.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian (to Dec 2025) | 33,121 | 81.9% | 7.6 min | 0.74% |
| Delta | 1,038,644 | 81.5% | 3.9 min | 1.71% |
| Envoy (American Eagle) | 317,726 | 80.9% | 4.2 min | 2.22% |
| Alaska | 301,435 | 79.6% | 2.9 min | 1.16% |
| United | 825,693 | 79.3% | 6.3 min | 1.03% |
| SkyWest | 854,130 | 79.0% | 9.6 min | 1.78% |
| Republic | 363,168 | 78.7% | 5.3 min | 4.13% |
| Southwest | 1,389,951 | 76.4% | 6.8 min | 0.88% |
| American | 987,645 | 74.6% | 13.3 min | 2.20% |
| PSA | 242,215 | 74.1% | 15.1 min | 4.29% |
| Allegiant | 126,499 | 74.1% | 15.2 min | 0.66% |
| Frontier | 209,405 | 73.1% | 13.3 min | 1.92% |
| Spirit (to May 2026) | 117,136 | 72.8% | 12.2 min | 3.94% |
| JetBlue | 237,090 | 72.3% | 12.7 min | 3.06% |
SkyWest, Envoy, Republic and PSA are regional airlines flying under the United, American, Delta and Alaska brands, so their numbers land on tickets sold by those four. The report’s Scorecard tab draws the same ranking for any period you pick, with the distribution of every airline’s arrival delays beside it.
Has the ranking changed over the last ten years?
Not at the top: Delta has been first or second among the mainline airlines every year since 2016, and only Alaska (88.0% in 2016) and Hawaiian have beaten it. What has changed is the level. Every major airline is worse in 2025 than in 2016: Delta fell from 87.0% to 80.2%, Alaska from 88.0% to 76.9%, American from 80.5% to 74.3%, Southwest from 82.0% to 78.6%. The exception is 2020, when empty skies pushed Southwest to 93.7% and Delta to 90.9%.
| Airline | 2016 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta | 87.0% | 85.5% | 90.9% | 84.0% | 80.2% |
| Alaska | 88.0% | 81.5% | 88.5% | 79.7% | 76.9% |
| United | 82.7% | 78.6% | 90.3% | 80.7% | 78.5% |
| Southwest | 82.0% | 82.4% | 93.7% | 75.8% | 78.6% |
| American | 80.5% | 78.9% | 88.9% | 77.4% | 74.3% |
| SkyWest | 83.7% | 81.2% | 89.8% | 83.4% | 79.3% |
| Spirit | 75.9% | 81.1% | 88.7% | 75.3% | 78.6% |
| JetBlue | 76.2% | 74.7% | 87.2% | 67.4% | 73.8% |
| Frontier | 77.1% | 74.5% | 88.5% | 68.2% | 72.1% |
The Trends tab plots every airline’s on-time rate, cancellations and average delay by year, and the industry by month, for whatever range you choose. The summer of 2022 is the trough for almost everyone; the climb back since has been slow and 2025 is below 2024 for most airlines.
Which airline cancels the most flights?
PSA (4.29% of flights) and Republic (4.13%), the two regional airlines flying as American Eagle and for United and Delta, then Spirit (3.94%) and JetBlue (3.06%). Allegiant cancelled the least, 0.66%, then Hawaiian (0.74%) and Southwest (0.88%). The reasons differ: American’s 21,700 cancellations were 84% weather, Delta’s were 59% the airline’s own doing, and a third of Republic’s and JetBlue’s were charged to the air traffic system.
| Airline | Cancelled | Rate | Weather | The airline itself | Air traffic system |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 10,392 | 4.29% | 78% | 10% | 12% |
| Republic | 15,011 | 4.13% | 49% | 16% | 35% |
| Spirit | 4,614 | 3.94% | 56% | 35% | 9% |
| JetBlue | 7,245 | 3.06% | 47% | 21% | 32% |
| Envoy (American Eagle) | 7,064 | 2.22% | 66% | 3% | 32% |
| American | 21,700 | 2.20% | 84% | 10% | 6% |
| Frontier | 4,026 | 1.92% | 52% | 48% | 0% |
| SkyWest | 15,226 | 1.78% | 78% | 4% | 18% |
| Delta | 17,789 | 1.71% | 37% | 59% | 4% |
| Alaska | 3,488 | 1.16% | 37% | 56% | 7% |
| United | 8,510 | 1.03% | 68% | 21% | 11% |
| Southwest | 12,238 | 0.88% | 58% | 20% | 22% |
| Allegiant | 834 | 0.66% | 74% | 18% | 8% |
Across all airlines 128,381 flights were cancelled in the period, 1.82% of the schedule. The Cancellations tab shows the rate and the reason mix by airline and by year; the winter of 2025-26 and a Sunday in January 2026 account for a large share of the weather total.
Why is each airline late?
Mostly because the plane was late getting there. Across the industry 40% of the 112 million delay minutes in the period were charged to late inbound aircraft, 33% to the airlines themselves, 21% to the air traffic system and 6% to weather. Southwest (51%), Frontier (52%) and PSA (50%) are the most exposed to the knock-on effect. Delta and SkyWest are the exceptions whose biggest cause is their own operation (45% and 47%), and United is the airline most held up by air traffic control, at 34%.
| Airline | Delay minutes | Late aircraft | The airline itself | Air traffic system | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | 20.9M | 47% | 34% | 14% | 6% |
| Southwest | 17.1M | 51% | 28% | 18% | 2% |
| SkyWest | 15.4M | 22% | 47% | 17% | 14% |
| Delta | 13.4M | 29% | 45% | 22% | 4% |
| United | 12.1M | 36% | 26% | 34% | 4% |
| PSA | 5.6M | 50% | 29% | 13% | 8% |
| Republic | 5.3M | 39% | 24% | 32% | 6% |
| JetBlue | 4.8M | 44% | 27% | 25% | 3% |
| Frontier | 4.6M | 52% | 26% | 19% | 3% |
| Envoy (American Eagle) | 4.1M | 44% | 20% | 23% | 13% |
| Alaska | 3.1M | 38% | 33% | 24% | 4% |
| Allegiant | 2.9M | 39% | 31% | 18% | 11% |
| Spirit | 2.3M | 30% | 31% | 37% | 2% |
Weather looks small because the coding charges most weather to the air traffic system (flow restrictions at a congested airport count as NAS, not weather) and because a plane that was late for a weather reason earlier in the day arrives late for the “late aircraft” reason later on. The Why late tab breaks each airline’s minutes down by cause and by year.
Which airline strands you for three hours or more?
PSA: 2.9% of its completed arrivals were three or more hours late, then American and Allegiant (2.35% each), Frontier (2.3%), SkyWest (2.2%) and JetBlue (2.1%). Alaska (0.7%), Southwest (0.75%) and Hawaiian (0.8%) stranded the fewest. Southwest’s late flights are also the shortest delays: 33 minutes on average when late, against 57 minutes for American and 66 for PSA.
| Airline | 3+ hours late | 1+ hour late | Minutes late when late |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 2.88% | 11.6% | 66 |
| American | 2.35% | 10.2% | 57 |
| Allegiant | 2.35% | 10.1% | 58 |
| Frontier | 2.26% | 11.0% | 58 |
| SkyWest | 2.23% | 8.9% | 56 |
| JetBlue | 2.11% | 11.4% | 52 |
| Spirit | 1.87% | 11.5% | 52 |
| United | 1.61% | 7.4% | 44 |
| Republic | 1.42% | 8.4% | 48 |
| Delta | 1.30% | 6.5% | 44 |
| Envoy (American Eagle) | 1.19% | 6.8% | 43 |
| Hawaiian | 0.82% | 3.8% | 26 |
| Southwest | 0.75% | 6.4% | 33 |
| Alaska | 0.70% | 4.8% | 30 |
Industry-wide, 1.6% of arrivals were three or more hours late and 26% of flights arrived 15 or more minutes early. The Scorecard tab’s delay distribution shows where each airline’s flights land across that range, from an hour early to three hours late.
Are airlines padding their schedules?
Yes, and far more than they used to. In 2003 the average scheduled flight was 1.4 minutes longer than it took; in 2025 it was 4.8 minutes longer, and in 2026 so far 6.1. Southwest pads the most, 6.7 minutes in 2025 against 4.4 in 2003; Delta went from 0.6 minutes to 5.8, American from 1.4 to 5.0 and United from 1.5 to 4.9. Northwest, Continental and US Airways, all gone now, scheduled almost exactly what they flew.
| Airline | 2003 | 2015 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest | 4.4 | 6.1 | 6.7 |
| Delta | 0.6 | 7.2 | 5.8 |
| JetBlue | 5.7 | 4.7 | 5.2 |
| American | 1.4 | 5.3 | 5.0 |
| United | 1.5 | 8.9 | 4.9 |
| Frontier | – | 0.8 | 4.5 |
| SkyWest | 3.3 | 1.8 | 3.4 |
| Alaska | 2.1 | 2.5 | 3.3 |
| Envoy (American Eagle) | 0.8 | 3.5 | 2.9 |
| Allegiant | – | – | 2.2 |
| Hawaiian | – | −1.5 | 1.0 |
| Northwest | 0.0 | – | – |
| US Airways | −0.3 | 2.0 | – |
Padding is why on-time rates have not collapsed as fast as taxi times and air traffic have grown: a flight that leaves the gate 20 minutes late can still arrive “on time” if the schedule had slack. The Padding tab shows scheduled against actual block by airline and year since 1987.
How did the airlines that no longer exist perform?
About as well as the survivors. US Airways (16.7 million flights to June 2015) arrived on time 80.4% of the time over its reporting life, Northwest (10.6 million, to 2009) 80.9%, Continental (8.9 million, to 2011) 79.6%, TWA (3.8 million, to 2001) 79.7% and America West (3.6 million, to 2005) 80.1%, all within a point of the 80.2% the whole industry has managed since 1987. Eastern (81.3%) and Pan Am (80.1%) were in the data for only its first three and four years.
| Airline | Reported | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg arrival delay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Airways | Oct 1987 – Jun 2015 | 16,735,486 | 80.4% | 1.96% | 5.7 min |
| Northwest | Oct 1987 – Dec 2009 | 10,585,760 | 80.9% | 2.04% | 5.5 min |
| Continental | Oct 1987 – Dec 2011 | 8,888,536 | 79.6% | 1.34% | 6.8 min |
| ExpressJet (Atlantic Southeast) | Jan 2003 – Sep 2020 | 6,611,726 | 76.8% | 2.95% | 9.1 min |
| TWA | Oct 1987 – Dec 2001 | 3,757,747 | 79.7% | 1.84% | 6.9 min |
| America West | Oct 1987 – Dec 2005 | 3,636,682 | 80.1% | 1.52% | 7.6 min |
| Endeavor (Pinnacle) | Jan 2007 – Dec 2024 | 2,956,801 | 84.1% | 2.38% | 1.8 min |
| Mesa | Jan 2006 – Dec 2022 | 2,557,988 | 80.0% | 2.99% | 8.0 min |
| AirTran | Jan 2003 – Dec 2014 | 2,485,709 | 79.7% | 0.99% | 6.7 min |
| Hawaiian | Nov 2003 – Dec 2025 | 1,510,710 | 89.3% | 0.56% | 1.6 min |
| Eastern | Oct 1987 – Dec 1990 | 919,785 | 81.3% | 3.12% | 7.1 min |
| Piedmont | Oct 1987 – Aug 1989 | 873,957 | 74.9% | 1.02% | 10.5 min |
| Independence Air | Jan 2003 – Dec 2005 | 693,047 | 78.0% | 3.20% | 6.8 min |
| Virgin America | Jan 2012 – Mar 2018 | 389,060 | 79.3% | 0.91% | 6.3 min |
| Pan Am | Oct 1987 – Nov 1991 | 316,167 | 80.1% | 1.11% | 5.4 min |
| Aloha | Nov 2000 – Feb 2008 | 154,381 | 90.6% | 1.84% | 1.2 min |
For comparison over the same 39 years, Southwest has flown 37.8 million reported flights at 81.3% on time, Delta 31.2 million at 81.6%, American 28.3 million at 79.4% and United 22.9 million at 79.0%. The Historic airlines tab lists all 34 reporting airlines with their first and last reported flight.
How was this measured?
Flights come from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance tables, October 1987 to the latest month published, with the 1990s filled from the ASA Data Expo copy of the same data. Only airlines above the DOT reporting threshold file, so small regional airlines appear only in the years they qualified, and a regional’s flights are reported under its own name rather than the brand on the ticket. On time is the DOT definition, arrival less than 15 minutes after schedule; cancelled and diverted flights are excluded from arrival rates and counted on their own. Delay causes and cancellation reasons are the airline’s own coding and exist from June 2003.
“Right now” on this page means the latest twelve months in the data, 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026, which is the report’s default period. Yearly tables use calendar years. Hawaiian and Spirit stopped reporting as separate airlines during the period and their rows cover only the months they filed.
The data lives in a Power BI semantic model on Microsoft Fabric. Every number on this page was produced by an AI assistant running the report’s own queries against that model, and the same model powers the live public report.
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