Airport month record

BNAAPR

Nashville International in April 2026

Departures: 9,617
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 13

Historical statistics for April 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s April. For today’s conditions at BNA, see live FAA status.

BNA in April lands a B+, 2 points worse than the national rate of 79.8%. Roughly one flight in four 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 9,617 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 798 at 86.5% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 86.5% on time across 798 flights.

On time

77.7%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,544 completed departures

Avg delay

58 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.60%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

76.2%

BNA across all twelve months

These figures cover 9,617 departures from Nashville International in April 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

April next to BNA's other months

Against BNA's own year, April ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.2%, which makes it number six of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for BNA in April, at 0.60% against 1.50% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 75.1% on time and May 70.6%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

BNA month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	9,459	69.6%	80 min	2.09%	C
August 2025	9,012	80.8%	63 min	0.81%	B+
September 2025	8,686	85.2%	62 min	0.24%	A+
October 2025	9,841	75.4%	59 min	0.42%	B+
November 2025	8,849	79.0%	68 min	1.22%	B
December 2025	8,776	74.9%	64 min	0.99%	C+
January 2026	7,853	84.3%	66 min	7.07%	B−
February 2026	7,542	81.0%	56 min	1.62%	B
March 2026	9,623	75.1%	71 min	2.31%	B
April 2026 (this page)	9,617	77.7%	58 min	0.60%	B+
May 2026	9,814	70.6%	57 min	0.57%	C+
June 2026	9,725	65.5%	61 min	0.98%	C+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave BNA in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 22 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,762 flights88.7%
8am–11am1,596 flights88.8%
11am–2pm1,553 flights80.9%
2pm–5pm1,638 flights72.0%
5pm–8pm2,160 flights66.7%
8pm–5am908 flights67.3%

Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the morning departure. Flights leaving between 8am–11am arrive on time 88.8% of the time, against 66.7% for the evening window. That is 22 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 2,160 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 84.5% on time and Thursday the weakest at 69.0%. 16 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at BNA in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 86.5% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 75.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 5,552 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at BNA in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	5,552	75.7%	45 min	0.23%	B+
Delta Air Lines	798	86.5%	70 min	1.38%	A
American Airlines	774	79.7%	100 min	0.52%	B+
Republic Airways	698	80.2%	62 min	0.57%	B+
United Airlines	643	76.6%	82 min	0.93%	B+
Envoy Airthin sample	271	78.4%	62 min	3.32%	B−
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	206	82.6%	121 min	2.43%	B
Allegiant Airthin sample	161	78.3%	57 min	0.00%	B+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	130	78.3%	89 min	0.00%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	125	71.3%	96 min	2.40%	C
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	110	81.8%	47 min	0.00%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	90	77.8%	64 min	0.00%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	59	76.8%	106 min	5.08%	B−

Delta leads Southwest by 11 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of BNA in April

Routes from BNA in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
BNA to ORD · Chicago	512	71.8%	90 min	3.52%	C−
BNA to ATL · Atlanta	378	87.3%	56 min	2.12%	A
BNA to DCA · Washington	371	78.6%	57 min	0.27%	B+
BNA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	340	76.1%	77 min	0.29%	B+
BNA to CLT · Charlottethin sample	336	83.0%	96 min	0.30%	B+
BNA to MCO · Orlandothin sample	300	72.7%	56 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	292	75.7%	110 min	1.37%	B
BNA to DEN · Denverthin sample	284	76.7%	54 min	0.35%	B+
BNA to AUS · Austinthin sample	266	86.5%	80 min	0.00%	A+
BNA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	244	75.8%	72 min	1.23%	B
BNA to BOS · Bostonthin sample	238	73.9%	51 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	219	73.4%	47 min	0.46%	C+
BNA to MIA · Miamithin sample	216	79.1%	58 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to TPA · Tampathin sample	215	78.6%	57 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to DAL · Dallasthin sample	202	70.7%	50 min	1.98%	C
BNA to DTW · Detroitthin sample	201	82.0%	54 min	0.50%	B+
BNA to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	201	62.8%	49 min	1.00%	D
BNA to RDU · Raleighthin sample	197	74.1%	50 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	174	80.1%	73 min	1.72%	B
BNA to MDW · Chicagothin sample	166	75.3%	42 min	1.81%	B
BNA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	160	86.8%	45 min	0.62%	A+
BNA to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	159	68.4%	47 min	0.63%	C+
BNA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	157	79.4%	54 min	1.27%	B
BNA to HOU · Houstonthin sample	150	80.7%	48 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to EWR · Newarkthin sample	143	89.5%	58 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held BNA up in April

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 47% of the 124,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
47%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
19%
Extreme weather
3%
Security
0%

47% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 124,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 18 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 123,943 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.60%, below the national 0.90% 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.

5.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. 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 BNA in April

For a April trip through BNA: expect 77.7% on time and 0.60% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 8am–11am window was the strongest part of the day.

Nashville International (BNA), the whole year
BNA in July69.6%
BNA in August80.8%
BNA in September85.2%
BNA in October75.4%
BNA in November79.0%
BNA in December74.9%
BNA in January84.3%
BNA in February81.0%
BNA in March75.1%
BNA in May70.6%
BNA in June65.5%

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.

Key figures