Carrier performance at one airport
AA→ATL
American Airlines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
- Departures
- 6,907
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 8
- Rank here
- #6 of 12
American Airlines at Atlanta sits in the middle of the pack with a B. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 2 points worse than the national rate of 77.3%. The late ones land close to two hours behind schedule. That rests on 6,907 flights, of which United Airlines flew 7,672 at 79.7% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs 2 points behind the 77.8% weighted average across all carriers at ATL. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
75.7%
6,749 completed departures
Avg delay
106 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.90%
At ATL, this carrier only
Rank here
#6
Of 12 carriers clearing the floor at ATL
These figures cover 6,907 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 11.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
Against the competition
Every carrier at ATL, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 79.7% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 63.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 20,778 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 7,672 | 79.7% | 84 min | 1.51% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 240,917 | 79.5% | 59 min | 1.67% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,359 | 78.7% | 54 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| PSA Airlines | 3,319 | 77.6% | 110 min | 5.33% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 17,133 | 76.4% | 59 min | 1.10% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 6,907 | 75.7% | 106 min | 1.90% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 6,699 | 75.1% | 106 min | 2.58% | B |
| Republic Airways | 3,135 | 74.9% | 84 min | 4.85% | C− |
| Envoy Air | 1,064 | 72.1% | 69 min | 2.54% | C |
| Spirit Airlines | 3,886 | 70.7% | 77 min | 4.01% | C− |
| JetBlue Airways | 2,858 | 69.1% | 89 min | 4.55% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 20,778 | 63.7% | 83 min | 2.42% | D |
PSA Airlines cancels 5.3% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Where American Airlines flies from ATL
American Airlines operates 8 routes out of ATL with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 2,624 | 76.4% | 105 min | 2.59% | B |
| ATL to MIA · Miami | 1,555 | 74.8% | 92 min | 0.77% | C+ |
| ATL to ORD · Chicago | 754 | 68.3% | 115 min | 2.52% | C |
| ATL to PHL · Philadelphia | 676 | 77.7% | 125 min | 2.81% | B |
| ATL to PHX · Phoenix | 608 | 79.1% | 100 min | 0.49% | B+ |
| ATL to LAX · Los Angeles | 377 | 73.0% | 120 min | 0.80% | C+ |
| ATL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 264 | 83.3% | 127 min | 2.65% | B |
| ATL to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 35 | 88.6% | 98 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Flight by flight
American Airlines flight numbers from ATL
2 American Airlines flight numbers leaving ATL flew their main route often enough to have a record of their own. Grouped by destination.
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 35 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,962 flights88.3%
- 8am–11am974 flights82.0%
- 11am–2pm1,167 flights81.0%
- 2pm–5pm1,044 flights68.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,300 flights60.7%
- 8pm–5am460 flights53.0%
Scale runs 45% to 95%.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 53.0% on time, against 88.3% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,962 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
July is the worst month at 63.6% on time, 21 points below February, the best at 84.6%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck. August was the busiest month here, with 714 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 11%National Airspace System
- 7%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
48% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 174,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 to one. The split is drawn from 173,712 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.90% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.39%.
11.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
The sample behind these figures is 6,907 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. February runs 84.6% on time and July 63.6%, a swing of 21 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else. 6,749 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
American Airlines at ATL
How often is American Airlines at ATL delayed?
About one flight in four arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 24.3% of the 6,907 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by close to two hours on average.
Which airline is most reliable on American Airlines at ATL?
United Airlines leads at 79.7% on time across 7,672 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 63.7%, a gap of 16 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on American Airlines at ATL?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 88.3% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 53.0%, 35 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are July delays on American Airlines at ATL?
July is the weakest month at 63.6% on time, compared with 84.6% in February. Across the year that is 21 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- American Airlines network-wide record
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) all carriers
- ATL to DFW route record76.4%
- ATL to MIA route record74.8%
- ATL to ORD route record68.3%
- ATL to PHL route record77.7%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.