Airlines › Delta Air Lines › May 2026
Carrier month · May 2026
Delta Air Lines in May 2026
BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report.
In May 2026, Delta Air Lines (DL) reported 91,955 scheduled domestic flights. 81.0% arrived on time, 1.2% were cancelled and 0.3% diverted.
All reporting carriers together recorded 77.6% on time and 0.9% cancelled that month, so the carrier was 3.4 points above the combined figure.
A year earlier, in May 2025, it reported 89,931 flights with 77.6% on time: a change of +3.4 points.
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, air carrier 46%, late-arriving aircraft 28% and national aviation system 23%.
- On time 81.0%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 17.5%
- Cancelled 1.2%
- Diverted 0.3%
May 2026 against a year earlier, the carrier's year and all carriers
| Measure | May 2026 | May 2025 | DL, 12 months to Jul 2026 | All carriers, May 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrived on time | 81.0% | 77.6% | 79.9% | 77.6% |
| Departed on time | 81.9% | 78.8% | 80.6% | 77.1% |
| Cancelled | 1.2% | 0.2% | 1.7% | 0.9% |
| Average arrival delay | 2.8 min | 8.0 min | 3.9 min | 6.2 min |
| Scheduled flights a day | 3,065 | 2,998 | 2,846 | 20,391 |
| Scheduled flights | 91,955 | 89,931 | 1,038,644 | 611,735 |
140 airports and 925 routes had DL flights that month.
Busiest airports that month
| Airport | Departures | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL Atlanta | 21,328 | 77.8% | 5.2 min | 1.3% |
| MSP Minneapolis | 5,714 | 81.4% | 3.2 min | 0.6% |
| DTW Detroit | 5,432 | 78.6% | 5.7 min | 1.6% |
| SLC Salt Lake City | 4,776 | 84.8% | -0.5 min | 0.6% |
| LAX Los Angeles | 3,378 | 78.8% | 5.0 min | 1.3% |
| SEA Seattle | 2,857 | 82.1% | 0.9 min | 0.6% |
| JFK New York | 2,719 | 79.3% | 1.4 min | 1.5% |
| LGA New York | 2,492 | 74.0% | 7.3 min | 1.7% |
| BOS Boston | 2,392 | 80.2% | 3.2 min | 0.8% |
| MCO Orlando | 1,877 | 80.9% | 4.5 min | 1.2% |
| LAS Las Vegas | 1,382 | 80.4% | 4.7 min | 1.3% |
| TPA Tampa | 1,247 | 79.5% | 6.6 min | 1.0% |
| SFO San Francisco | 1,235 | 67.4% | 13.7 min | 1.3% |
| AUS Austin | 1,209 | 80.9% | 2.8 min | 1.7% |
| FLL Fort Lauderdale | 1,143 | 78.7% | 2.0 min | 1.0% |
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Questions and answers
What share of Delta Air Lines flights were on time in May 2026?
81.0% of 91,955 scheduled domestic flights arrived less than 15 minutes late; all reporting carriers together recorded 77.6% that month.
How does that compare with a year earlier?
In May 2025 the carrier reported 89,931 flights with 77.6% on time and 0.2% cancelled, against 81.0% and 1.2% in May 2026.
Provenance
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for May 2026; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for Delta Air Lines · methodology · corrections.