Carrier performance at one airport
AA→BNA
American Airlines at Nashville International
- Departures
- 9,458
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 8
- Rank here
- #6 of 13
American Airlines at Nashville 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 an hour and a half behind schedule. That rests on 9,458 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 9,282 at 84.6% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs about a point behind the 76.7% weighted average across all carriers at BNA. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
75.6%
9,218 completed departures
Avg delay
97 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.34%
At BNA, this carrier only
Rank here
#6
Of 13 carriers clearing the floor at BNA
These figures cover 9,458 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.6% 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 BNA, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 84.6% of the time; Alaska Airlines manages 70.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,161 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 9,282 | 84.6% | 84 min | 1.83% | B |
| United Airlines | 6,670 | 76.9% | 85 min | 1.41% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 60,657 | 76.4% | 51 min | 0.87% | B+ |
| Allegiant Air | 2,319 | 76.1% | 97 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 3,107 | 75.7% | 101 min | 1.87% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 9,458 | 75.6% | 97 min | 2.34% | B |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,725 | 75.5% | 81 min | 3.49% | B− |
| Envoy Air | 2,120 | 74.8% | 69 min | 2.55% | C |
| Republic Airways | 7,294 | 74.6% | 69 min | 3.72% | C− |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,417 | 72.2% | 71 min | 3.46% | C− |
| PSA Airlines | 1,388 | 72.2% | 84 min | 5.55% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 868 | 72.0% | 89 min | 1.84% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,161 | 70.1% | 49 min | 1.12% | C |
PSA Airlines cancels 5.5% 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 BNA
American Airlines operates 8 routes out of BNA 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 3,146 | 74.1% | 91 min | 3.31% | C− |
| BNA to CLT · Charlotte | 2,247 | 78.3% | 93 min | 1.82% | B |
| BNA to MIA · Miami | 1,302 | 77.2% | 87 min | 1.38% | B |
| BNA to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,086 | 75.0% | 112 min | 2.21% | B |
| BNA to PHX · Phoenix | 545 | 79.2% | 114 min | 1.10% | B |
| BNA to ORD · Chicago | 425 | 65.9% | 130 min | 2.12% | C |
| BNA to LAX · Los Angeles | 384 | 71.4% | 89 min | 0.78% | C+ |
| BNA to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 309 | 79.9% | 67 min | 5.18% | B− |
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 23 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am3,231 flights85.6%
- 8am–11am1,396 flights85.3%
- 11am–2pm1,356 flights75.5%
- 2pm–5pm1,275 flights62.5%
- 5pm–8pm2,100 flights62.6%
- 8pm–5am100 flights63.2%
Scale runs 55% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 85.6% of the time, against 62.5% for the afternoon window. That is 23 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
July is the worst month at 62.2% on time, 20 points below February, the best at 82.4%. 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
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Carrier
- 14%National Airspace System
- 4%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. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 217,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 12 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 2.34% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.20%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.6% 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 9,458 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 82.4% on time and July 62.2%, 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 BNA
How often is American Airlines at BNA 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 24.4% of the 9,458 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by an hour and a half on average.
Which airline is most reliable on American Airlines at BNA?
Delta Air Lines leads at 84.6% on time across 9,282 flights. Alaska Airlines is at the other end on 70.1%, a gap of 15 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 BNA?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 85.6% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 62.5%, 23 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 BNA?
July is the weakest month at 62.2% on time, compared with 82.4% 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
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.