Airport month record

BNAMAY

Nashville International in May 2026

Departures: 9,814
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 12

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

BNA in May sits in the middle of the pack with a C+. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 8 points worse than the national rate of 78.6%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 9,814 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 913 at 84.2% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 84.2% on time across 913 flights.

On time

70.6%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,736 completed departures

Avg delay

57 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.57%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

76.2%

BNA across all twelve months

These figures cover 9,814 departures from Nashville International in May 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

May next to BNA's other months

Against BNA's own year, May ran 6 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 76.2%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for BNA in May, at 0.57% against 1.50% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 77.7% on time and June 65.5%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

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	9,617	77.7%	58 min	0.60%	B+
May 2026 (this page)	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 May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 36 points, against 19 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,777 flights89.1%
8am–11am1,601 flights88.5%
11am–2pm1,651 flights72.7%
2pm–5pm1,711 flights62.3%
5pm–8pm2,244 flights54.5%
8pm–5am830 flights53.2%

Scale runs 45% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 53.2% on time, against 89.1% 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 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 2,244 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 80.2% on time and Thursday the weakest at 63.6%. 17 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at BNA in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 84.2% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 64.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 5,731 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at BNA in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	5,731	64.9%	47 min	0.10%	D+
Delta Air Lines	913	84.2%	79 min	1.97%	B
American Airlines	850	76.6%	90 min	1.18%	B
United Airlines	677	76.3%	79 min	0.74%	B+
Republic Airways	490	80.0%	57 min	1.22%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	277	76.0%	66 min	2.17%	B
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	225	79.0%	107 min	0.44%	B+
Allegiant Airthin sample	194	73.1%	84 min	0.52%	C+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	147	78.6%	94 min	1.36%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	130	80.8%	89 min	0.00%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	112	80.2%	40 min	0.89%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	64	73.0%	80 min	0.00%	C+

The spread between Delta and Southwest 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 BNA in May

Routes from BNA in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
BNA to ORD · Chicago	497	73.9%	73 min	2.01%	C
BNA to ATL · Atlanta	400	82.6%	64 min	2.50%	B
BNA to DCA · Washington	378	72.5%	53 min	0.79%	C+
BNA to CLT · Charlottethin sample	330	78.2%	56 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	324	69.4%	111 min	2.78%	C
BNA to DEN · Denverthin sample	314	67.4%	52 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	283	72.7%	62 min	1.06%	C
BNA to AUS · Austinthin sample	276	74.5%	61 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to BOS · Bostonthin sample	270	68.7%	59 min	0.37%	C+
BNA to MCO · Orlandothin sample	260	61.2%	44 min	0.00%	D+
BNA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	245	73.0%	62 min	1.63%	C
BNA to MIA · Miamithin sample	227	74.0%	60 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to DTW · Detroitthin sample	226	71.5%	97 min	2.21%	C
BNA to TPA · Tampathin sample	221	61.6%	48 min	0.45%	D+
BNA to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	215	69.3%	44 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	211	73.8%	61 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to DAL · Dallasthin sample	209	67.6%	57 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to RDU · Raleighthin sample	192	70.7%	39 min	0.52%	C+
BNA to EWR · Newarkthin sample	179	89.3%	98 min	1.12%	A
BNA to MDW · Chicagothin sample	171	60.6%	46 min	0.00%	D+
BNA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	171	76.3%	63 min	1.17%	B
BNA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	163	73.0%	50 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	152	64.9%	45 min	0.66%	D+
BNA to HOU · Houstonthin sample	150	65.8%	50 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to SEA · Seattlethin sample	142	79.4%	46 min	0.70%	B+

Delay causes

What held BNA up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 163,000 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
49%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
16%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

49% 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 163,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 27 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 162,518 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.57%, below the national 0.92% 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.

7.9% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%. 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 May

For a May trip through BNA: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 89.1% on time, and with 7.9% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.

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 April77.7%
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