Philadelphia International in May 2026

79.9%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 9,251 domestic departures from Philadelphia International (PHL). 79.9% left less than 15 minutes late and 79.6% reached their destination on time; 1.1% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 77.1% of flights departed on time and 77.6% arrived on time, so PHL departures were 2.8 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in May 2025, the airport had 8,866 departures with 73.0% leaving on time: a change of +6.9 points, with flights up 4%.

Flights arriving at PHL that month were on time 80.6% of the time (9,255 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 41%, air carrier 30% and national aviation system 23%.

On time 79.6%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 19.0%
Cancelled 1.1%
Diverted 0.3%

Every scheduled departure from PHL 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	PHL, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, May 2026
Departed on time	79.9%	73.0%	74.1%	77.1%
Arrived on time	79.6%	68.9%	73.4%	77.6%
Cancelled	1.1%	2.0%	2.7%	0.9%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	15.1 min	21.2 min	20.2 min	16.0 min
Scheduled departures a day	308	296	276	20,391
Scheduled departures	9,251	8,866	100,793	611,735

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
AA American Airlines	4,475	48%	80.2%	2.5 min	0.9%
OH PSA Airlines	1,678	18%	78.7%	1.0 min	2.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	775	8%	77.9%	3.8 min	0.3%
DL Delta Air Lines	604	7%	83.8%	2.8 min	1.8%
YX Republic Airline	567	6%	86.2%	-5.1 min	1.2%
UA United Airlines	447	5%	77.2%	10.1 min	0.0%
WN Southwest Airlines	438	5%	67.1%	16.8 min	0.2%
B6 JetBlue Airways	163	2%	83.4%	10.6 min	0.0%
AS Alaska Airlines	81	1%	82.7%	2.6 min	2.5%
G4 Allegiant Air	11	0%	72.7%	3.0 min	9.1%
NK Spirit Airlines	7	0%	85.7%	-7.3 min	14.3%
OO SkyWest Airlines	5	0%	80.0%	56.6 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
PHL–ATL	Philadelphia to Atlanta	520	76.3%	3.4 min	1.2%
PHL–ORD	Philadelphia to Chicago	492	78.7%	6.1 min	1.2%
PHL–MCO	Philadelphia to Orlando	449	78.0%	3.3 min	0.2%
PHL–BOS	Philadelphia to Boston	437	80.5%	0.3 min	1.1%
PHL–DFW	Philadelphia to Dallas/Fort Worth	313	78.3%	7.1 min	2.9%
PHL–CLT	Philadelphia to Charlotte	296	87.5%	-7.9 min	0.3%
PHL–DEN	Philadelphia to Denver	276	76.4%	3.1 min	0.0%
PHL–FLL	Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale	256	78.9%	0.7 min	0.4%
PHL–DTW	Philadelphia to Detroit	248	83.5%	2.6 min	2.8%
PHL–RDU	Philadelphia to Raleigh/Durham	247	85.0%	-2.0 min	0.8%
PHL–MIA	Philadelphia to Miami	246	84.1%	1.5 min	0.8%
PHL–BNA	Philadelphia to Nashville	245	69.8%	14.1 min	1.2%

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	29.8%	33.0%	38,736
Late-arriving aircraft	40.8%	40.4%	52,944
National Aviation System	23.2%	20.5%	30,170
Extreme weather	5.9%	6.0%	7,646
Security	0.2%	0.1%	296

129,792 delay minutes on 1,756 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 PHL on time in May 2026?

79.9% of 9,251 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 79.6% 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, 73.0% of 8,866 departures left on time and 2.0% were cancelled, against 79.9% and 1.1% 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 PHL · methodology · corrections.