On-Time Report

Routes › Houston (HOU) › HOU to TUS

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Houston to Tucson: on-time record

William P Hobby to Tucson International

87.1%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.

87.1% of scheduled HOU to TUS flights arrived on time in the 12 months to July 2026. The figure covers 171 flights between Houston and Tucson by carriers that report to BTS, a distance of 946 miles.

That is 11.1 points above the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 11.1 points above the 76.0% recorded for all departures from HOU. Flights that did arrive were 1.0 minutes early on average, and 0.0% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier on the route, with 171 flights in the period.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at HOU), flights leaving from 12 pm to 1 pm had the highest on-time share, 92.0%; those leaving from 8 pm to 9 pm had the lowest, 69.6%.

The on-time share is up 4.9 points on the previous 12 months (82.2%); cancellations moved from 0.8% to 0.0%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 52%, air carrier 34% and national aviation system 13%.

87.1%arrived on timenational 76.0%
-1.0 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
0.0%cancellednational 1.8%
14flights a month171 in 12 months · 946 miles
Every scheduled HOU to TUS flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
WN Southwest Airlines171100%87.1%-1.0 min0.0%

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 TUSAll departures from HOUAll arrivals at TUSAll reported flights
Arrived on time87.1%76.0%77.9%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late12.9%22.9%21.1%21.9%
Cancelled0.0%0.9%0.9%1.8%
Diverted0.0%0.2%0.1%0.3%
Average arrival delay-1.0 min7.0 min7.0 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights6551,3311,4731,684
Scheduled flights17153,89419,5387,043,858

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, TUS to HOU, recorded 87.7% on time across 171 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled HOU to TUS 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 87.1% against 82.2% (+4.9 pts), cancelled 0.0% against 0.8%, flights 171 against 365.

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 carrier34.3%33.3%334
Late-arriving aircraft51.5%39.7%502
National Aviation System12.8%20.7%125
Extreme weather1.2%6.1%12
Security0.2%0.1%2
975 delay minutes on 22 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
Jan7580.0%2.7%1.2 min3
Feb7692.1%1.3%-8.2 min3
Mar7270.8%0.0%13.2 min3
Apr6280.6%0.0%0.4 min3
May6258.1%0.0%20.1 min2
Jun6058.3%0.0%18.5 min2
Jul6256.5%3.2%27.1 min2
Aug9285.9%0.0%-0.2 min3
Sep9078.9%0.0%5.6 min3
Oct9290.2%0.0%-1.0 min3
Nov8081.3%0.0%1.2 min3
Dec7986.1%0.0%2.6 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 TUS

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Houston to Tucson on time?

87.1% of the 171 flights scheduled from HOU to TUS 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 TUS?

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 Tucson?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 52%, air carrier 34%, national aviation system 13%, extreme weather 1%, security 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 12 pm to 1 pm arrived on time 92.0% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 8 pm to 9 pm at 69.6%. 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 87.1%, up 4.9 points on the previous 12 months (82.2%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, February had the highest on-time share (92.1%) and July the lowest (56.5%).

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.