Airport month record

BNAOCT

Nashville International in October 2025

Departures: 9,841
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 13

Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at BNA, see live FAA status.

BNA in October sits in the middle of the pack with a B+. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 4 points worse than the national rate of 79.7%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 9,841 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 849 at 83.5% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 83.5% on time across 849 flights.

On time

75.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,780 completed departures

Avg delay

59 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.42%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

76.2%

BNA across all twelve months

These figures cover 9,841 departures from Nashville 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 BNA's other months

Against BNA's own year, October ran level with the twelve-month rate of 76.2%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for BNA in October, at 0.42% against 1.50% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 85.2% on time and November 79.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page)	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	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 29 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,790 flights89.8%
8am–11am1,691 flights88.9%
11am–2pm1,691 flights73.9%
2pm–5pm1,936 flights68.8%
5pm–8pm1,927 flights61.2%
8pm–5am806 flights67.5%

Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 61.2% on time, against 89.8% 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 2pm–5pm window is the busiest, with 1,936 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 83.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 66.7%. 17 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at BNA in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 83.5% of the time; Republic Airways manages 73.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 648 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at BNA in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	5,336	74.1%	48 min	0.13%	C+
American Airlines	953	76.7%	95 min	0.84%	B+
Delta Air Lines	849	83.5%	80 min	0.24%	B+
Republic Airways	648	73.4%	59 min	1.54%	C
United Airlines	559	73.5%	61 min	0.36%	C+
Spirit Airlines	411	79.3%	87 min	1.46%	B
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	290	75.2%	55 min	0.00%	B+
Allegiant Airthin sample	203	76.7%	73 min	0.00%	B+
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	172	69.6%	62 min	2.33%	C
Envoy Airthin sample	142	80.3%	74 min	0.00%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	115	68.8%	47 min	1.74%	C
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	113	78.8%	87 min	0.00%	B+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	50	74.0%	38 min	0.00%	C+

Delta leads Republic by 10 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 October

Routes from BNA in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
BNA to ORD · Chicago	478	72.7%	65 min	0.21%	C+
BNA to DCA · Washington	388	79.5%	49 min	0.26%	B+
BNA to ATL · Atlantathin sample	362	84.8%	51 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	349	67.0%	72 min	3.15%	C−
BNA to BOS · Bostonthin sample	330	57.4%	83 min	1.52%	D
BNA to DEN · Denverthin sample	325	77.8%	47 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to MCO · Orlandothin sample	322	78.1%	82 min	0.62%	B+
BNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	313	73.3%	62 min	1.92%	C
BNA to CLT · Charlottethin sample	303	80.8%	99 min	0.33%	B+
BNA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	284	73.1%	77 min	0.35%	C+
BNA to AUS · Austinthin sample	284	80.9%	57 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to DTW · Detroitthin sample	233	82.0%	44 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	232	76.3%	71 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	222	81.1%	60 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to TPA · Tampathin sample	214	71.4%	55 min	0.00%	C+
BNA to DAL · Dallasthin sample	211	77.5%	59 min	0.47%	B+
BNA to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	208	78.4%	64 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to MIA · Miamithin sample	205	79.9%	77 min	0.49%	B+
BNA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	196	78.6%	60 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to RDU · Raleighthin sample	195	65.1%	43 min	1.54%	C
BNA to EWR · Newarkthin sample	190	57.2%	65 min	1.05%	D
BNA to MDW · Chicagothin sample	170	78.8%	51 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	169	73.2%	48 min	0.59%	C+
BNA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	164	79.3%	54 min	0.00%	B+
BNA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	157	80.4%	76 min	1.27%	B

Delay causes

What held BNA up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 50% of the 142,000 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
50%
Carrier
29%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

50% 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 142,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 49 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 141,711 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.42%, 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.

7.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. 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 October

For a October trip through BNA: expect 75.4% on time and 0.42% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am 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 November79.0%
BNA in December74.9%
BNA in January84.3%
BNA in February81.0%
BNA in March75.1%
BNA in April77.7%
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