Carrier performance at one airport
NK→DTW
Spirit Airlines at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County
- Departures
- 9,657
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 25
- Rank here
- #7 of 12
Spirit Airlines at Detroit lands a B, level with the national rate of 77.4%. Roughly one flight in four arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 9,657 flights, of which American Airlines flew 5,018 at 81.2% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Spirit Airlines runs half a point ahead of the 76.6% weighted average across all carriers at DTW. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
76.9%
9,375 completed departures
Avg delay
71 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.65%
At DTW, this carrier only
Rank here
#7
Of 12 carriers clearing the floor at DTW
These figures cover 9,657 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.0% 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 DTW, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 81.2% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 72.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,735 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 5,018 | 81.2% | 95 min | 2.05% | B |
| Republic Airways | 6,050 | 80.5% | 77 min | 3.44% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,171 | 78.0% | 84 min | 3.16% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 4,418 | 77.6% | 50 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 60,438 | 77.5% | 66 min | 1.31% | B |
| United Airlines | 2,353 | 77.4% | 78 min | 1.10% | B |
| Spirit Airlines (this page) | 9,657 | 76.9% | 71 min | 2.65% | B |
| Envoy Air | 872 | 75.1% | 78 min | 2.87% | B |
| PSA Airlines | 1,745 | 74.2% | 111 min | 5.79% | C− |
| Alaska Airlines | 551 | 74.1% | 48 min | 0.36% | C+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 28,581 | 73.3% | 97 min | 2.04% | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,735 | 72.5% | 90 min | 1.72% | C |
PSA Airlines cancels 5.8% 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 Spirit Airlines flies from DTW
Spirit Airlines operates 25 routes out of DTW 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTW to LGA · New York | 1,062 | 69.7% | 75 min | 7.25% | C− |
| DTW to MCO · Orlando | 1,042 | 78.5% | 65 min | 0.96% | B+ |
| DTW to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 887 | 71.7% | 71 min | 2.25% | C |
| DTW to ATL · Atlanta | 756 | 74.5% | 72 min | 1.72% | C |
| DTW to LAS · Las Vegas | 623 | 81.2% | 50 min | 0.64% | B+ |
| DTW to LAX · Los Angeles | 601 | 81.1% | 68 min | 1.16% | B |
| DTW to EWR · Newark | 594 | 67.0% | 83 min | 8.59% | C− |
| DTW to TPA · Tampa | 577 | 75.5% | 62 min | 3.47% | B− |
| DTW to IAH · Houston | 441 | 76.7% | 80 min | 1.81% | B |
| DTW to RSW · Fort Myers | 410 | 73.4% | 60 min | 4.63% | C− |
| DTW to MIA · Miamithin sample | 313 | 79.9% | 65 min | 3.19% | B− |
| DTW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 276 | 77.1% | 58 min | 1.45% | B |
| DTW to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 195 | 82.0% | 69 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| DTW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 179 | 76.4% | 54 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| DTW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 175 | 79.9% | 75 min | 0.57% | B+ |
| DTW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 155 | 80.6% | 76 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 143 | 85.6% | 68 min | 1.40% | A |
| DTW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 127 | 84.3% | 99 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to MYR · Myrtle Beachthin sample | 120 | 85.8% | 40 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DTW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 106 | 85.7% | 91 min | 0.94% | A+ |
| DTW to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 99 | 84.8% | 73 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to BDL · Hartfordthin sample | 82 | 80.2% | 97 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 72 | 80.6% | 49 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 66 | 89.1% | 72 min | 1.52% | A |
| DTW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 63 | 88.9% | 123 min | 0.00% | A+ |
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 15 points, against 9 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,113 flights84.4%
- 8am–11am1,943 flights82.1%
- 11am–2pm991 flights80.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,167 flights71.8%
- 5pm–8pm1,778 flights69.7%
- 8pm–5am1,665 flights70.1%
Scale runs 60% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 84.4% of the time, against 69.7% for the evening window. That is 15 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
September is the best month on the calendar at 86.2% on time. Shoulder season thins the schedule and takes the summer weather with it, and the operation gets its margin back.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 42%National Airspace System
- 33%Carrier
- 23%Late-arriving aircraft
- 1%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% of delay minutes are charged to the National Airspace System: air traffic volume, runway configuration, ground stops. No carrier can price its way out of that, which is why airport choice moves the number here more than carrier choice does. That is 64,000 minutes out of 153,000, against a national NAS share of 21%.
Cancellations run at 2.65%, against 1.80% nationally. That is about one flight in 40 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.0% 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 9,657 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 86.2% on time and March 62.4%, a swing of 24 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of March before you think about anything else.
Common questions
Spirit Airlines at DTW
How often is Spirit Airlines at DTW delayed?
Roughly 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 23.1% of the 9,657 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Spirit Airlines at DTW?
American Airlines leads at 81.2% on time across 5,018 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 72.5%, a gap of 9 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 Spirit Airlines at DTW?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 84.4% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 69.7%, 15 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 March delays on Spirit Airlines at DTW?
March is the weakest month at 62.4% on time, compared with 86.2% in September. Across the year that is 24 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.