Chicago O'Hare International in May 2026

75.9%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 33,733 domestic departures from Chicago O'Hare International (ORD). 75.9% left less than 15 minutes late and 75.1% reached their destination on time; 1.0% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 77.1% of flights departed on time and 77.6% arrived on time, so ORD departures were 1.2 points below the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in May 2025, the airport had 27,990 departures with 79.9% leaving on time: a change of −4.0 points, with flights up 21%.

Flights arriving at ORD that month were on time 77.5% of the time (33,737 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 46%, air carrier 27% and national aviation system 19%.

On time 75.1%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 23.6%
Cancelled 1.0%
Diverted 0.3%

Every scheduled departure from ORD 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	ORD, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, May 2026
Departed on time	75.9%	79.9%	71.4%	77.1%
Arrived on time	75.1%	78.0%	69.4%	77.6%
Cancelled	1.0%	0.6%	2.8%	0.9%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	18.4 min	14.8 min	22.3 min	16.0 min
Scheduled departures a day	1,124	933	986	20,391
Scheduled departures	33,733	27,990	359,911	611,735

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	9,414	28%	76.0%	9.3 min	0.4%
OO SkyWest Airlines	7,817	23%	69.8%	15.2 min	1.6%
AA American Airlines	6,084	18%	69.4%	16.4 min	0.9%
MQ Envoy Air	5,444	16%	83.8%	-3.1 min	1.2%
YX Republic Airline	2,763	8%	83.2%	-1.2 min	1.3%
DL Delta Air Lines	991	3%	77.3%	7.9 min	1.4%
WN Southwest Airlines	403	1%	60.0%	23.1 min	0.5%
F9 Frontier Airlines	318	1%	70.4%	16.5 min	0.3%
AS Alaska Airlines	302	1%	80.5%	0.1 min	0.0%
B6 JetBlue Airways	103	0%	89.3%	-10.8 min	1.9%
OH PSA Airlines	80	0%	76.3%	8.3 min	2.5%
NK Spirit Airlines	14	0%	78.6%	13.8 min	7.1%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
ORD–LGA	Chicago to New York	996	71.5%	13.1 min	1.6%
ORD–BOS	Chicago to Boston	740	75.8%	7.3 min	0.4%
ORD–DFW	Chicago to Dallas/Fort Worth	630	67.3%	19.8 min	1.6%
ORD–DCA	Chicago to Washington	608	71.1%	15.6 min	1.2%
ORD–LAX	Chicago to Los Angeles	601	78.5%	6.5 min	0.5%
ORD–DTW	Chicago to Detroit	599	76.0%	11.0 min	1.5%
ORD–ATL	Chicago to Atlanta	597	75.4%	11.3 min	1.2%
ORD–DEN	Chicago to Denver	584	77.9%	6.5 min	0.0%
ORD–IND	Chicago to Indianapolis	572	78.5%	3.9 min	2.6%
ORD–MSP	Chicago to Minneapolis	570	77.2%	8.7 min	0.9%
ORD–SEA	Chicago to Seattle	562	73.1%	6.3 min	0.0%
ORD–SFO	Chicago to San Francisco	559	59.0%	24.7 min	0.4%

By scheduled departure hour

100

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	26.6%	33.0%	154,846
Late-arriving aircraft	45.7%	40.4%	266,109
National Aviation System	18.9%	20.5%	110,156
Extreme weather	8.8%	6.0%	51,316
Security	0.1%	0.1%	432

582,859 delay minutes on 7,962 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 ORD on time in May 2026?

75.9% of 33,733 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 75.1% 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, 79.9% of 27,990 departures left on time and 0.6% were cancelled, against 75.9% and 1.0% 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 ORD · methodology · corrections.