On-Time Report

Routes › Philadelphia (PHL) › PHL to STL

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Philadelphia to St. Louis: on-time record

Philadelphia International to St Louis Lambert International

76.5%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.

76.5% of scheduled PHL to STL flights arrived on time in the 12 months to July 2026. The figure covers 1,606 flights between Philadelphia and St. Louis by carriers that report to BTS, a distance of 814 miles.

That is 0.5 points above the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 3.1 points above the 73.4% recorded for all departures from PHL. Flights that did arrive were 8.2 min late on average, and 1.6% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

4 reporting carriers flew the route at least 60 times. Republic Airline had the highest on-time share at 84.4% of 96 flights; PSA Airlines had the lowest at 69.3% of 137.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at PHL), flights leaving from 6 am to 7 am had the highest on-time share, 94.4%; those leaving from 6 pm to 7 pm had the lowest, 60.5%.

The on-time share is about level with the previous 12 months (76.6%); cancellations moved from 1.8% to 1.6%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 48%, air carrier 32% and national aviation system 15%.

76.5%arrived on timenational 76.0%
8.2 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
1.6%cancellednational 1.8%
134flights a month1,606 in 12 months · 814 miles
Every scheduled PHL to STL flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
WN Southwest Airlines72645%78.1%9.7 min0.6%
AA American Airlines64740%75.0%8.3 min1.4%
OH PSA Airlines1379%69.3%3.7 min8.8%
YX Republic Airline966%84.4%1.4 min1.0%

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

MeasurePHL to STLAll departures from PHLAll arrivals at STLAll reported flights
Arrived on time76.5%73.4%77.7%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late21.8%23.6%20.8%21.9%
Cancelled1.6%2.7%1.3%1.8%
Diverted0.1%0.3%0.2%0.3%
Average arrival delay8.2 min9.7 min5.6 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights1,6941,9681,3831,684
Scheduled flights1,606100,79363,3167,043,858

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, STL to PHL, recorded 78.8% on time across 1,602 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled PHL to STL 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 76.5% against 76.6% (−0.1 pts), cancelled 1.6% against 1.8%, flights 1,606 against 1,596.

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 PHL (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 carrier31.6%33.3%8,082
Late-arriving aircraft47.5%39.7%12,146
National Aviation System15.1%20.7%3,870
Extreme weather5.6%6.1%1,425
Security0.3%0.1%70
25,593 delay minutes on 350 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
Jan26671.1%6.0%8.0 min3
Feb22480.4%4.5%-1.6 min3
Mar30276.2%1.3%16.0 min3
Apr32980.5%0.0%5.3 min3
May38177.2%1.0%9.9 min3
Jun46372.1%1.7%14.4 min3
Jul48363.4%4.1%23.1 min3
Aug46372.8%1.7%15.6 min3
Sep43880.6%0.2%2.8 min3
Oct45386.5%0.0%-0.8 min3
Nov38984.1%0.8%0.4 min3
Dec38270.7%0.5%13.6 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 Philadelphia (PHL)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
PHL–ATLPhiladelphia to Atlanta5,75076.2%3.4 min3.0%
PHL–MCOPhiladelphia to Orlando5,33470.4%14.3 min2.5%
PHL–ORDPhiladelphia to Chicago5,00270.5%17.6 min3.4%
PHL–BOSPhiladelphia to Boston4,97872.8%10.2 min3.0%
PHL–CLTPhiladelphia to Charlotte3,52178.0%3.6 min2.6%
PHL–FLLPhiladelphia to Fort Lauderdale3,50770.3%10.7 min3.0%
PHL–DFWPhiladelphia to Dallas/Fort Worth3,47374.5%7.8 min3.4%
PHL–MIAPhiladelphia to Miami3,24775.4%7.0 min2.4%

All 90 routes and the airport record for PHL · airport record for STL

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Philadelphia to St. Louis on time?

76.5% of the 1,606 flights scheduled from PHL to STL 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 PHL to STL?

Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, Republic Airline had the highest on-time share (84.4%), followed by Southwest Airlines (78.1%) and American Airlines (75.0%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.

What causes delays between Philadelphia and St. Louis?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 48%, air carrier 32%, national aviation system 15%, extreme weather 6%, 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 PHL?

Flights scheduled to leave PHL from 6 am to 7 am arrived on time 94.4% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 6 pm to 7 pm at 60.5%. 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 76.5%, about level with the previous 12 months (76.6%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, October had the highest on-time share (86.5%) and July the lowest (63.4%).

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.