Carrier performance at one airport
AA→ATL
American Airlines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
- Departures
- 6,851
- Period
- June 2025 to May 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 77.4%. The late ones land close to two hours behind schedule. That rests on 6,851 flights, of which United Airlines flew 7,431 at 80.3% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs about a point behind the 77.0% 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
75.9%
6,683 completed departures
Avg delay
107 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.07%
At ATL, this carrier only
Rank here
#6
Of 12 carriers clearing the floor at ATL
These figures cover 6,851 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 10.9% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Against the competition
Every carrier at ATL, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 80.3% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 63.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 19,091 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 7,431 | 80.3% | 83 min | 1.44% | B |
| PSA Airlines | 3,194 | 78.8% | 108 min | 4.82% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 241,168 | 78.4% | 60 min | 1.72% | B |
| Republic Airways | 2,717 | 77.0% | 77 min | 4.05% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 18,107 | 76.8% | 60 min | 1.17% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 6,851 | 75.9% | 107 min | 2.07% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,463 | 75.4% | 57 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 7,416 | 73.7% | 108 min | 2.17% | C |
| Envoy Air | 1,153 | 72.7% | 69 min | 3.12% | C− |
| Spirit Airlines | 6,049 | 70.5% | 75 min | 2.89% | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 2,469 | 70.5% | 92 min | 3.52% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 19,091 | 63.2% | 83 min | 2.33% | D |
PSA Airlines cancels 4.8% 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 | 2,669 | 76.9% | 105 min | 2.96% | B |
| ATL to MIA · Miami | 1,547 | 75.2% | 91 min | 1.10% | B |
| ATL to ORD · Chicago | 697 | 71.3% | 121 min | 2.73% | C |
| ATL to PHX · Phoenix | 614 | 79.6% | 107 min | 0.49% | B+ |
| ATL to PHL · Philadelphia | 547 | 74.2% | 124 min | 2.01% | C |
| ATL to LAX · Los Angeles | 380 | 73.8% | 112 min | 0.53% | C+ |
| ATL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 317 | 81.2% | 108 min | 2.52% | B |
| ATL to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 74 | 69.0% | 165 min | 4.05% | C− |
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 37 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,863 flights89.2%
- 8am–11am871 flights83.3%
- 11am–2pm1,220 flights82.5%
- 2pm–5pm1,144 flights69.1%
- 5pm–8pm1,339 flights59.8%
- 8pm–5am414 flights51.9%
Scale runs 45% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 51.9% on time, against 89.2% 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.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
July is the worst month at 64.2% on time, 20 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.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 49%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 10%National Airspace System
- 8%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
49% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 172,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 6 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.
Cancellations sit at 2.07% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.38%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 10.9% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
The sample behind these figures is 6,851 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 64.2%, a swing of 20 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else.
Common questions
American Airlines at ATL
How often is American Airlines at ATL delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 24.1% of the 6,851 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% 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 80.3% on time across 7,431 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 63.2%, a gap of 17 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 89.2% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 51.9%, 37 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 64.2% on time, compared with 84.6% in February. Across the year that is 20 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 record76.9%
- ATL to MIA route record75.2%
- ATL to ORD route record71.3%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.