On-Time Report

Routes › Houston (HOU) › HOU to LGB

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Houston to Long Beach: on-time record

William P Hobby to Long Beach Airport

85.2%arrived 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. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.

Flights from Houston (HOU) to Long Beach (LGB) arrived on time 85.2% of the time in the 12 months to July 2026. Reporting carriers scheduled 461 flights on the route in that period, about 1.3 a day, a distance of 1,374 miles.

That is 9.2 points above the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 9.2 points above the 76.0% recorded for all departures from HOU. Flights that did arrive were 0.6 minutes early on average, and 0.4% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier on the route, with 461 flights in the period.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at HOU), flights leaving from 8 am to 9 am had the highest on-time share, 91.8%; those leaving from 12 pm to 1 pm had the lowest, 71.4%.

The on-time share is up 0.6 points on the previous 12 months (84.6%); cancellations moved from 0.4% to 0.4%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, air carrier 46%, late-arriving aircraft 31% and national aviation system 22%.

85.2%arrived on timenational 76.0%
-0.6 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
0.4%cancellednational 1.8%
38flights a month461 in 12 months · 1,374 miles
Every scheduled HOU to LGB flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
WN Southwest Airlines461100%85.2%-0.6 min0.4%

Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.

Compared with the airports and the nation

MeasureHOU to LGBAll departures from HOUAll arrivals at LGBAll reported flights
Arrived on time85.2%76.0%80.8%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late14.1%22.9%18.7%21.9%
Cancelled0.4%0.9%0.4%1.8%
Diverted0.2%0.2%0.1%0.3%
Average arrival delay-0.6 min7.0 min2.5 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights6811,3319681,684
Scheduled flights46153,89415,1147,043,858

12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.

The return direction, LGB to HOU, recorded 77.7% on time across 461 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled HOU to LGB flights that arrived on time, Aug 2023 to Jul 2026. Green columns are at or above the national figure for that month (the dark tick), amber below it, red more than eight points below.

Year on year: on time 85.2% against 84.6% (+0.6 pts), cancelled 0.4% against 0.4%, flights 461 against 564.

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over
Share of flights that arrived on time, by the hour they were scheduled to leave HOU (local time), 12 months to July 2026. Faded cells have few flights. Hover or tap a cell for counts.

Delay causes

BTS cause categoryShare of delay minutesNationalMinutes
Air carrier46.0%33.3%1,147
Late-arriving aircraft30.7%39.7%766
National Aviation System22.2%20.7%553
Extreme weather0.0%6.1%0
Security1.1%0.1%28
2,494 delay minutes on 65 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Seasonality

Calendar monthFlightsOn timeCancelledAvg arrival delayYears in sample
Jan12579.2%1.6%-1.3 min3
Feb10687.7%0.0%-4.5 min3
Mar13284.8%0.0%-1.2 min3
Apr12684.1%0.0%-0.8 min3
May13072.3%1.5%6.1 min3
Jun12976.0%0.8%9.3 min3
Jul13978.4%0.7%7.0 min3
Aug15685.3%0.6%-4.5 min3
Sep15187.4%0.0%1.4 min3
Oct15887.3%0.6%-4.0 min3
Nov15591.0%0.0%-5.3 min3
Dec15987.4%0.6%-2.2 min3

Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.

Other routes from Houston (HOU)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
HOU–DALHouston to Dallas4,04779.0%3.5 min2.2%
HOU–ATLHouston to Atlanta2,88278.5%7.0 min1.2%
HOU–DENHouston to Denver2,38077.2%5.7 min0.3%
HOU–MSYHouston to New Orleans2,29782.8%1.7 min0.2%
HOU–PHXHouston to Phoenix2,09876.5%5.7 min0.5%
HOU–MCOHouston to Orlando2,05476.6%7.2 min0.8%
HOU–LASHouston to Las Vegas2,02180.2%2.9 min0.3%
HOU–DFWHouston to Dallas/Fort Worth2,00174.3%14.2 min4.1%

All 70 routes and the airport record for HOU · airport record for LGB

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Houston to Long Beach on time?

85.2% of the 461 flights scheduled from HOU to LGB in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.

Which airline has the highest on-time share from HOU to LGB?

Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier with at least 60 flights on the route in the period, so there is no comparison to make.

What causes delays between Houston and Long Beach?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: air carrier 46%, late-arriving aircraft 31%, national aviation system 22%, security 1%, extreme weather 0%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.

What time of day has the highest on-time share from HOU?

Flights scheduled to leave HOU from 8 am to 9 am arrived on time 91.8% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 12 pm to 1 pm at 71.4%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.

Is it getting better?

The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 85.2%, up 0.6 points on the previous 12 months (84.6%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, November had the highest on-time share (91.0%) and May the lowest (72.3%).

Where does this data come from?

Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.