Airport month record
ATLAUG
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in August 2026
- Departures
- 27,221
- Month
- August 2026
- National, same month
- 73.1%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for August 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at ATL, see live FAA status.
ATL in August sits in the middle of the pack with a C. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, about a point better than the national rate of 73.1%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 27,221 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 506 at 76.9% on time.
SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 76.9% on time across 506 flights.
Key figures
On time
74.1%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 26,796 completed departures
Avg delay
71 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.19%
Nationally in August: 1.86%
Whole year
77.9%
ATL across all twelve months
These figures cover 27,221 departures from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in August 2026. 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 4 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 77.9%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| July 2026 | 28,068 | 66.5% | 79 min | 2.42% | C |
| August 2026 (this page) | 27,221 | 74.1% | 71 min | 1.19% | C |
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 31 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,934 flights89.7%
- 8am–11am5,675 flights87.1%
- 11am–2pm4,511 flights79.9%
- 2pm–5pm5,338 flights66.6%
- 5pm–8pm4,383 flights59.0%
- 8pm–5am5,380 flights69.6%
Scale runs 50% to 95%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 59.0% on time, against 89.7% 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. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 5,675 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 80.8% on time and Friday the weakest at 65.6%, a spread of 15 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at ATL in August
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 76.9% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 57.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,958 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 21,041 | 76.3% | 62 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,958 | 57.2% | 93 min | 3.17% | D− |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,281 | 68.8% | 69 min | 1.17% | C |
| American Airlines | 714 | 65.5% | 106 min | 1.54% | C |
| United Airlines | 700 | 73.9% | 110 min | 1.43% | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 506 | 76.9% | 82 min | 0.99% | B+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 319 | 68.8% | 91 min | 8.46% | C− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 290 | 65.5% | 106 min | 8.62% | C− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 268 | 71.5% | 92 min | 5.22% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 116 | 84.3% | 61 min | 0.86% | B+ |
Frontier Airlines cancels 3.2% 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
Busiest routes out of ATL in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL to LGA · New York | 696 | 67.7% | 112 min | 5.17% | C− |
| ATL to MCO · Orlando | 693 | 61.6% | 89 min | 1.73% | D |
| ATL to ORD · Chicago | 626 | 60.2% | 101 min | 1.92% | D |
| ATL to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 601 | 70.2% | 66 min | 2.50% | C |
| ATL to DCA · Washington | 581 | 61.2% | 74 min | 4.48% | D− |
| ATL to PHL · Philadelphia | 550 | 69.9% | 112 min | 3.09% | C− |
| ATL to TPA · Tampa | 535 | 61.3% | 73 min | 1.12% | D |
| ATL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 535 | 71.4% | 70 min | 1.12% | C |
| ATL to EWR · Newark | 518 | 67.9% | 112 min | 4.25% | C− |
| ATL to MIA · Miami | 510 | 65.5% | 83 min | 1.37% | C |
| ATL to DEN · Denver | 494 | 68.7% | 70 min | 1.01% | C |
| ATL to BWI · Baltimore | 491 | 69.9% | 75 min | 3.67% | C− |
| ATL to BOS · Boston | 480 | 69.3% | 69 min | 2.92% | C |
| ATL to DTW · Detroit | 420 | 69.7% | 59 min | 0.24% | C+ |
| ATL to IAH · Houston | 419 | 77.9% | 98 min | 0.48% | B+ |
| ATL to RDU · Raleigh | 415 | 81.3% | 56 min | 1.20% | B |
| ATL to CLT · Charlotte | 406 | 77.1% | 81 min | 2.22% | B |
| ATL to LAS · Las Vegas | 389 | 64.9% | 71 min | 0.51% | D+ |
| ATL to LAX · Los Angeles | 388 | 75.1% | 64 min | 0.52% | B+ |
| ATL to AUS · Austin | 380 | 75.3% | 57 min | 1.05% | B |
| ATL to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 357 | 68.6% | 109 min | 1.68% | C |
| ATL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 355 | 77.3% | 53 min | 0.28% | B+ |
| ATL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 354 | 62.9% | 57 min | 1.41% | D |
| ATL to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 353 | 70.1% | 76 min | 3.40% | C− |
| ATL to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 334 | 75.9% | 72 min | 1.50% | 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 491,000 reported delay minutes.
- 35%Carrier
- 30%Late-arriving aircraft
- 29%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 35%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 173,000 of the 491,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 490,845 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.19% against a national 1.86%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.37%.
9.9% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.9% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from ATL in August
For a August trip through ATL: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 89.7% on time, and with 9.9% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), the whole year
- 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%
- ATL in July66.5%
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.