Carrier performance at one airport
DL→CVG
Delta Air Lines at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International
- Departures
- 7,606
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 11
- Rank here
- #1 of 11
Delta Air Lines at Cincinnati earns a B. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 7 points better than the national rate of 77.3%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 7,606 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 7,606 at 84.4% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Delta Air Lines runs 5 points ahead of the 79.2% weighted average across all carriers at CVG. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
84.4%
7,503 completed departures
Avg delay
72 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.12%
At CVG, this carrier only
Rank here
#1
Of 11 carriers clearing the floor at CVG
These figures cover 7,606 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 9 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
Against the competition
Every carrier at CVG, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 84.4% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 61.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,028 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines (this page) | 7,606 | 84.4% | 72 min | 1.12% | B |
| Republic Airways | 4,909 | 81.2% | 73 min | 3.48% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 2,529 | 80.2% | 56 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| Envoy Air | 2,608 | 80.0% | 72 min | 1.84% | B |
| United Airlines | 2,424 | 78.7% | 76 min | 1.44% | B |
| American Airlines | 3,028 | 78.3% | 90 min | 2.15% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,096 | 78.1% | 84 min | 1.36% | B |
| Allegiant Air | 3,488 | 76.6% | 76 min | 0.43% | B+ |
| PSA Airlines | 2,910 | 73.5% | 110 min | 4.23% | C− |
| Alaska Airlines | 431 | 71.2% | 57 min | 1.86% | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,028 | 61.2% | 106 min | 5.74% | D− |
SkyWest Airlines cancels 5.7% 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 Delta Air Lines flies from CVG
Delta Air Lines operates 11 routes out of CVG 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVG to ATL · Atlanta | 2,715 | 86.4% | 70 min | 1.22% | A |
| CVG to MSP · Minneapolis | 826 | 86.7% | 103 min | 1.09% | A |
| CVG to SLC · Salt Lake City | 817 | 85.5% | 68 min | 0.49% | A+ |
| CVG to MCO · Orlando | 721 | 80.7% | 60 min | 1.53% | B |
| CVG to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 525 | 79.0% | 77 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| CVG to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 364 | 90.0% | 72 min | 0.27% | A+ |
| CVG to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 362 | 83.8% | 52 min | 0.83% | B+ |
| CVG to TPA · Tampathin sample | 359 | 79.9% | 72 min | 1.11% | B |
| CVG to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 356 | 80.4% | 56 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| CVG to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 337 | 84.9% | 58 min | 1.78% | B |
| CVG to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 183 | 80.1% | 122 min | 3.28% | B− |
Flight by flight
Delta Air Lines flight numbers from CVG
12 Delta Air Lines flight numbers leaving CVG 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 13 points, against 23 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,822 flights88.7%
- 8am–11am1,141 flights88.2%
- 11am–2pm649 flights88.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,838 flights76.1%
- 5pm–8pm735 flights81.3%
- 8pm–5am421 flights80.0%
Scale runs 70% to 95%.
The best window here is not the first bank but the 11am–2pm slot at 88.9% on time, ahead of 2pm–5pm at 76.1%. Where the curve peaks mid-day rather than at dawn, the constraint is usually congestion at one end rather than the aircraft's own rotation. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 2,822 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
December is the weak month at 73.4% on time, against 92.5% in September. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days. July was the busiest month here, with 734 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 40%Carrier
- 33%Late-arriving aircraft
- 22%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 40%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 34,000 of the 84,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 83,740 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.12% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.24%.
5.7% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 7,606 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. September runs 92.5% on time and December 73.4%, a swing of 19 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of December before you think about anything else. 7,503 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
Delta Air Lines at CVG
How often is Delta Air Lines at CVG delayed?
About one flight in six arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 15.6% of the 7,606 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Delta Air Lines at CVG?
Delta Air Lines leads at 84.4% on time across 7,606 flights. SkyWest Airlines is at the other end on 61.2%, a gap of 23 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 Delta Air Lines at CVG?
The 11am–2pm departure window is the strongest at 88.9% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 76.1%, 13 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 December delays on Delta Air Lines at CVG?
December is the weakest month at 73.4% on time, compared with 92.5% in September. Across the year that is 19 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
- Delta Air Lines network-wide record
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG) all carriers
- CVG to ATL route record86.4%
- CVG to MSP route record86.7%
- CVG to SLC route record85.5%
- CVG to MCO route record80.7%
- Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
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.