Airport month record
ATLAUG
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in August 2025
- Departures
- 27,353
- Month
- August 2025
- National, same month
- 77.4%
- Carriers
- 12
Historical statistics for August 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at ATL, see live FAA status.
ATL in August lands a B+, about a point better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 27,353 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 20,844 at 80.2% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 80.2% on time across 20,844 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.4%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 27,042 completed departures
Avg delay
67 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.85%
Nationally in August: 1.08%
Whole year
78.4%
ATL across all twelve months
These figures cover 27,353 departures from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in August 2025. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
August next to ATL's other months
Against ATL's own year, August ran level with the twelve-month rate of 78.4%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for ATL in August, at 0.85% against 1.73% across the year. Either side of it, July ran 68.8% on time and September 86.5%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 28,551 | 68.8% | 75 min | 1.59% | C |
| August 2025 (this page) | 27,353 | 78.4% | 67 min | 0.85% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 25,839 | 86.5% | 54 min | 0.07% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 27,556 | 81.6% | 57 min | 0.20% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 25,888 | 80.3% | 66 min | 2.45% | B |
| December 2025 | 25,764 | 73.2% | 69 min | 2.38% | C |
| January 2026 | 24,595 | 78.3% | 61 min | 5.00% | B− |
| February 2026 | 23,024 | 80.3% | 56 min | 1.49% | B |
| March 2026 | 26,669 | 74.8% | 71 min | 3.46% | C− |
| April 2026 | 26,607 | 82.1% | 57 min | 1.00% | B |
| May 2026 | 27,535 | 77.2% | 61 min | 1.18% | B |
| June 2026 | 26,961 | 80.1% | 70 min | 1.38% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave ATL in August
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 23 points, against 19 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,774 flights90.3%
- 8am–11am5,725 flights87.0%
- 11am–2pm4,556 flights85.2%
- 2pm–5pm5,308 flights75.3%
- 5pm–8pm4,164 flights67.8%
- 8pm–5am5,826 flights71.2%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.3% of the time, against 67.8% for the evening 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. The 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 5,826 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 81.7% on time and Friday the weakest at 71.9%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at ATL in August
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 80.2% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 61.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,461 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 20,844 | 80.2% | 60 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,627 | 76.1% | 61 min | 0.43% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,461 | 61.2% | 82 min | 2.46% | D |
| SkyWest Airlines | 762 | 73.7% | 110 min | 0.13% | C+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 627 | 76.9% | 69 min | 0.16% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 623 | 79.3% | 77 min | 1.12% | B |
| American Airlines | 608 | 71.5% | 109 min | 2.14% | C |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 278 | 75.3% | 131 min | 2.52% | B |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 160 | 76.7% | 65 min | 0.62% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 152 | 72.0% | 64 min | 0.66% | C+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 135 | 80.0% | 91 min | 2.96% | B |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 76 | 82.9% | 65 min | 0.00% | B+ |
The spread between Delta and Frontier is 19 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 19 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of ATL in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL to MCO · Orlando | 634 | 64.6% | 82 min | 0.16% | D+ |
| ATL to LGA · New York | 607 | 78.3% | 76 min | 1.32% | B |
| ATL to DCA · Washington | 583 | 73.9% | 74 min | 1.54% | C |
| ATL to ORD · Chicago | 573 | 78.5% | 87 min | 1.75% | B |
| ATL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 552 | 72.7% | 101 min | 1.99% | C |
| ATL to EWR · Newark | 537 | 71.8% | 73 min | 1.49% | C |
| ATL to PHL · Philadelphia | 506 | 74.9% | 62 min | 2.17% | C |
| ATL to MIA · Miami | 498 | 67.7% | 76 min | 0.80% | C+ |
| ATL to DEN · Denver | 495 | 71.3% | 63 min | 0.81% | C+ |
| ATL to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 495 | 71.5% | 55 min | 0.20% | C+ |
| ATL to BWI · Baltimore | 493 | 74.5% | 71 min | 1.62% | C |
| ATL to LAX · Los Angeles | 482 | 78.6% | 58 min | 0.83% | B+ |
| ATL to TPA · Tampa | 472 | 69.2% | 59 min | 0.21% | C+ |
| ATL to DTW · Detroit | 447 | 78.9% | 65 min | 0.45% | B+ |
| ATL to AUS · Austin | 407 | 70.8% | 47 min | 1.47% | C |
| ATL to CLT · Charlotte | 405 | 77.9% | 94 min | 0.49% | B+ |
| ATL to LAS · Las Vegas | 404 | 77.2% | 54 min | 0.99% | B+ |
| ATL to BOS · Boston | 403 | 82.3% | 57 min | 0.25% | B+ |
| ATL to RDU · Raleigh | 402 | 79.9% | 51 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| ATL to IAH · Houston | 380 | 72.9% | 65 min | 1.05% | C |
| ATL to JFK · New York | 376 | 78.8% | 76 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| ATL to BNA · Nashville | 365 | 86.4% | 50 min | 1.10% | A |
| ATL to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 344 | 74.2% | 106 min | 0.58% | C+ |
| ATL to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 332 | 77.8% | 64 min | 0.90% | B+ |
| ATL to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 331 | 83.0% | 54 min | 1.51% | B |
Delay causes
What held ATL up in August
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 392,000 reported delay minutes.
- 42%Carrier
- 30%Late-arriving aircraft
- 19%National Airspace System
- 8%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 42%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 165,000 of the 392,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 392,204 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.85%, below the national 1.08% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
7.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from ATL in August
For a August trip through ATL: expect 78.4% on time and 0.85% cancelled, going by August 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), the whole year
- ATL in July68.8%
- ATL in September86.5%
- ATL in October81.6%
- ATL in November80.3%
- ATL in December73.2%
- ATL in January78.3%
- ATL in February80.3%
- ATL in March74.8%
- ATL in April82.1%
- ATL in May77.2%
- ATL in June80.1%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.