Detroit Metro Wayne County in May 2026

80.3%departed on time

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, reporting carriers scheduled 10,112 domestic departures from Detroit Metro Wayne County (DTW). 80.3% left less than 15 minutes late and 79.7% reached their destination on time; 1.3% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 77.1% of flights departed on time and 77.6% arrived on time, so DTW departures were 3.2 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in May 2025, the airport had 10,554 departures with 82.0% leaving on time: a change of −1.7 points, with flights down 4%.

Flights arriving at DTW that month were on time 81.6% of the time (10,120 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, air carrier 53%, late-arriving aircraft 19% and national aviation system 19%.

On time 79.7%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 18.9%
Cancelled 1.3%
Diverted 0.2%

Every scheduled departure from DTW in May 2026, judged by arrival at the destination.

May 2026 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	May 2026	May 2025	DTW, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, May 2026
Departed on time	80.3%	82.0%	77.3%	77.1%
Arrived on time	79.7%	80.4%	75.4%	77.6%
Cancelled	1.3%	0.3%	1.9%	0.9%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	14.0 min	13.4 min	17.7 min	16.0 min
Scheduled departures a day	337	352	334	20,391
Scheduled departures	10,112	10,554	121,889	611,735

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
DL Delta Air Lines	5,432	54%	78.6%	5.7 min	1.6%
OO SkyWest Airlines	2,316	23%	81.1%	6.7 min	0.7%
YX Republic Airline	578	6%	83.9%	1.2 min	1.7%
AA American Airlines	438	4%	84.0%	3.7 min	1.1%
WN Southwest Airlines	400	4%	70.3%	10.9 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	267	3%	79.0%	3.8 min	0.4%
UA United Airlines	202	2%	80.7%	8.5 min	0.5%
OH PSA Airlines	171	2%	80.7%	1.7 min	2.3%
MQ Envoy Air	135	1%	85.9%	-5.7 min	0.7%
B6 JetBlue Airways	97	1%	87.6%	-1.5 min	0.0%
AS Alaska Airlines	62	1%	90.3%	-4.3 min	0.0%
NK Spirit Airlines	14	0%	50.0%	65.9 min	14.3%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
DTW–ORD	Detroit to Chicago	600	78.2%	7.5 min	1.8%
DTW–ATL	Detroit to Atlanta	400	77.3%	7.9 min	0.3%
DTW–DFW	Detroit to Dallas/Fort Worth	300	73.3%	6.0 min	2.3%
DTW–CLT	Detroit to Charlotte	296	86.8%	3.9 min	0.7%
DTW–DEN	Detroit to Denver	281	85.4%	-0.8 min	0.7%
DTW–LGA	Detroit to New York	270	79.3%	3.0 min	1.9%
DTW–EWR	Detroit to Newark	260	85.8%	-0.4 min	2.7%
DTW–DCA	Detroit to Washington	257	73.5%	10.8 min	1.6%
DTW–PHL	Detroit to Philadelphia	248	82.3%	0.4 min	2.8%
DTW–BNA	Detroit to Nashville	226	74.8%	9.5 min	1.8%
DTW–MCO	Detroit to Orlando	224	79.0%	6.8 min	0.4%
DTW–PHX	Detroit to Phoenix	217	79.7%	5.6 min	0.5%

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), May 2026.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, May 2026	Minutes
Air carrier	53.3%	33.0%	69,076
Late-arriving aircraft	19.3%	40.4%	24,971
National Aviation System	18.5%	20.5%	24,009
Extreme weather	8.7%	6.0%	11,234
Security	0.2%	0.1%	241

129,531 delay minutes on 1,907 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Questions and answers

How many flights left DTW on time in May 2026?

80.3% of 10,112 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 79.7% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 77.1% and 77.6%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In May 2025, 82.0% of 10,554 departures left on time and 0.3% were cancelled, against 80.3% and 1.3% in May 2026.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for May 2026; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for DTW · methodology · corrections.