Airport month record
ATLOCT
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in October 2025
- Departures
- 27,556
- Month
- October 2025
- National, same month
- 79.7%
- Carriers
- 12
Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at ATL, see live FAA status.
ATL in October lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 27,556 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 566 at 84.7% on time.
SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 84.7% on time across 566 flights.
Key figures
On time
81.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 27,451 completed departures
Avg delay
57 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.20%
Nationally in October: 0.53%
Whole year
77.9%
ATL across all twelve months
These figures cover 27,556 departures from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in October 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
October next to ATL's other months
Against ATL's own year, October ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 77.9%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for ATL in October, at 0.20% against 1.83% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 86.5% on time and November 80.3%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 25,839 | 86.5% | 54 min | 0.07% | A+ |
| October 2025 (this page) | 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 | 27,221 | 74.1% | 71 min | 1.19% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave ATL in October
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 15 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,788 flights88.7%
- 8am–11am5,729 flights87.8%
- 11am–2pm4,396 flights85.5%
- 2pm–5pm5,388 flights79.5%
- 5pm–8pm4,478 flights73.5%
- 8pm–5am5,777 flights78.5%
Scale runs 65% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 88.7% of the time, against 73.5% 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. The 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 5,777 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.5% on time and Monday the weakest at 72.7%, a spread of 16 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at ATL in October
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 84.7% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 71.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,573 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 21,033 | 83.0% | 51 min | 0.14% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,624 | 76.3% | 49 min | 0.25% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,573 | 71.5% | 78 min | 0.06% | C+ |
| United Airlines | 670 | 81.1% | 60 min | 0.15% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 615 | 77.9% | 112 min | 0.33% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 566 | 84.7% | 89 min | 0.18% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 526 | 83.9% | 75 min | 0.57% | B+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 302 | 73.8% | 83 min | 2.65% | C |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 244 | 84.0% | 74 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 183 | 72.1% | 76 min | 1.64% | C |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 144 | 73.0% | 56 min | 2.08% | C |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 76 | 64.5% | 49 min | 0.00% | D+ |
The spread between SkyWest and Frontier is 13 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 13 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of ATL in October
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL to LGA · New York | 799 | 70.9% | 74 min | 1.63% | C |
| ATL to MCO · Orlando | 664 | 68.8% | 71 min | 0.15% | C+ |
| ATL to DCA · Washington | 582 | 77.8% | 45 min | 0.17% | B+ |
| ATL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 576 | 76.8% | 63 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| ATL to ORD · Chicago | 569 | 75.8% | 50 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to EWR · Newark | 536 | 68.9% | 61 min | 1.12% | C |
| ATL to BWI · Baltimore | 501 | 80.6% | 47 min | 0.20% | B+ |
| ATL to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 487 | 79.0% | 57 min | 0.21% | B+ |
| ATL to MIA · Miami | 485 | 79.3% | 74 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| ATL to TPA · Tampa | 484 | 77.0% | 57 min | 0.21% | B+ |
| ATL to DEN · Denver | 474 | 78.2% | 53 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to PHL · Philadelphia | 474 | 77.6% | 83 min | 0.21% | B+ |
| ATL to IAH · Houston | 439 | 78.9% | 61 min | 0.46% | B+ |
| ATL to DTW · Detroit | 427 | 85.0% | 61 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| ATL to LAX · Los Angeles | 426 | 82.6% | 72 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to BOS · Boston | 425 | 69.0% | 68 min | 0.71% | C+ |
| ATL to RDU · Raleigh | 416 | 83.2% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to LAS · Las Vegas | 415 | 75.6% | 61 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to AUS · Austin | 407 | 82.8% | 54 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to JFK · New York | 400 | 79.7% | 84 min | 1.00% | B |
| ATL to CLT · Charlotte | 398 | 82.9% | 58 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to MSY · New Orleans | 392 | 82.9% | 54 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 363 | 80.7% | 52 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ATL to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 348 | 85.6% | 53 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| ATL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 345 | 81.2% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held ATL up in October
Carrier accounts for 46% of the 288,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 46%Carrier
- 30%Late-arriving aircraft
- 22%National Airspace System
- 1%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 46%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 134,000 of the 288,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 288,114 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.20%, below the national 0.53% 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.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.3% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.
What to do with this
Flying from ATL in October
For a October trip through ATL: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 81.6% on time with 0.20% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), the whole year
- ATL in September86.5%
- 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%
- ATL in August74.1%
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.