Airlines › United Airlines › May 2026
Carrier month · May 2026
United Airlines 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, United Airlines (UA) reported 74,200 scheduled domestic flights. 79.5% arrived on time, 0.4% 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 1.9 points above the combined figure.
A year earlier, in May 2025, it reported 67,807 flights with 74.7% on time: a change of +4.8 points.
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 38%, national aviation system 34% and air carrier 24%.
- On time 79.5%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 19.9%
- Cancelled 0.4%
- Diverted 0.3%
May 2026 against a year earlier, the carrier's year and all carriers
| Measure | May 2026 | May 2025 | UA, 12 months to Jul 2026 | All carriers, May 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrived on time | 79.5% | 74.7% | 78.2% | 77.6% |
| Departed on time | 81.6% | 77.7% | 80.6% | 77.1% |
| Cancelled | 0.4% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 0.9% |
| Average arrival delay | 4.3 min | 11.1 min | 6.3 min | 6.2 min |
| Scheduled flights a day | 2,473 | 2,260 | 2,262 | 20,391 |
| Scheduled flights | 74,200 | 67,807 | 825,693 | 611,735 |
130 airports and 918 routes had UA flights that month.
Busiest airports that month
| Airport | Departures | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN Denver | 9,440 | 78.8% | 3.9 min | 0.1% |
| ORD Chicago | 9,414 | 76.0% | 9.3 min | 0.4% |
| IAH Houston | 6,414 | 78.2% | 4.7 min | 0.3% |
| EWR Newark | 5,767 | 83.6% | -1.3 min | 0.6% |
| SFO San Francisco | 5,657 | 75.7% | 4.1 min | 0.3% |
| IAD Washington | 3,541 | 84.7% | -0.3 min | 0.2% |
| LAX Los Angeles | 2,725 | 85.3% | -3.0 min | 0.1% |
| LAS Las Vegas | 1,295 | 76.5% | 5.9 min | 0.5% |
| MCO Orlando | 1,276 | 85.0% | 0.1 min | 0.3% |
| BOS Boston | 1,208 | 80.5% | 3.5 min | 0.1% |
| AUS Austin | 961 | 75.4% | 11.3 min | 0.5% |
| SAN San Diego | 933 | 77.9% | 2.8 min | 0.4% |
| DFW Dallas/Fort Worth | 901 | 72.9% | 17.1 min | 1.0% |
| LGA New York | 840 | 72.4% | 13.3 min | 1.4% |
| CLE Cleveland | 818 | 88.6% | 0.1 min | 0.2% |
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Questions and answers
What share of United Airlines flights were on time in May 2026?
79.5% of 74,200 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 67,807 flights with 74.7% on time and 0.9% cancelled, against 79.5% and 0.4% 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 United Airlines · methodology · corrections.