Seasonal Flight Delay Patterns

Average monthly performance across 2019-202544,648,013 flights

Best Month to Fly

September

85.2% on-time rate — Avg delay 10.2 min

Worst Month to Fly

July

75.7% on-time rate — Avg delay 18.4 min

On-Time Rate by Month (Average 2019-2025)

Monthly Averages

MonthAvg FlightsOn-TimeAvg DelayCancel %
January530,93180.3%13.0 min2.8%
February488,21781.2%12.4 min2.5%
March580,37079.9%12.3 min3.6%
April522,87477.2%11.9 min7.1%
May526,67480.7%13.4 min2.0%
June540,54376.6%17.1 min1.7%
July579,72075.7%18.4 min2.0%
August575,50879.1%15.0 min1.8%
September534,18185.2%10.2 min1.1%
October563,64384.4%10.5 min0.9%
November538,64684.9%10.3 min0.9%
December544,51379.6%14.1 min1.8%

Data source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) On-Time Performance dataset. Statistics are based on reported flight data from 2019-2025. See our data methodology for details.