Airport month record

BWIAPR

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall in April 2026

Departures: 8,041
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 9

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

BWI in April lands a B+, level with the national rate of 79.8%. About one flight in five 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 8,041 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 448 at 90.3% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 90.3% on time across 448 flights.

On time

79.9%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,006 completed departures

Avg delay

55 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.34%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

77.6%

BWI across all twelve months

These figures cover 8,041 departures from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall 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 BWI's other months

Against BWI's own year, April ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 77.6%, which makes it number six of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for BWI in April, at 0.34% against 1.71% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 74.6% on time and May 76.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

BWI month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	8,922	66.2%	92 min	3.64%	C−
August 2025	8,381	78.8%	62 min	0.76%	B+
September 2025	7,968	85.5%	56 min	0.18%	A+
October 2025	8,475	81.4%	49 min	0.14%	B+
November 2025	7,721	82.9%	62 min	1.80%	B
December 2025	7,863	70.4%	54 min	1.27%	C
January 2026	6,934	82.9%	53 min	5.61%	B−
February 2026	6,552	83.1%	58 min	3.59%	B−
March 2026	7,803	74.6%	69 min	2.58%	C
April 2026 (this page)	8,041	79.9%	55 min	0.34%	B+
May 2026	8,161	76.7%	59 min	0.28%	B+
June 2026	8,045	70.9%	63 min	1.16%	C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave BWI in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 22 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,065 flights91.6%
8am–11am1,684 flights89.5%
11am–2pm1,187 flights83.1%
2pm–5pm1,238 flights76.7%
5pm–8pm1,581 flights69.7%
8pm–5am1,286 flights70.0%

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

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.6% of the time, against 69.7% 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 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,684 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 88.9% on time and Sunday the weakest at 74.3%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at BWI in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.3% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 80.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 6,115 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at BWI in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	6,115	80.0%	47 min	0.07%	B+
Delta Air Lines	448	90.3%	51 min	1.12%	A
United Airlines	369	82.8%	105 min	0.81%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	355	67.7%	77 min	1.69%	C
American Airlinesthin sample	285	80.6%	106 min	0.35%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	196	70.3%	70 min	2.04%	C
Republic Airwaysthin sample	147	82.1%	102 min	1.36%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	88	75.6%	79 min	2.27%	B
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	37	70.3%	43 min	0.00%	C+

Delta leads Southwest 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 BWI in April

Routes from BWI in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
BWI to ATL · Atlanta	440	84.2%	36 min	0.45%	B+
BWI to MCO · Orlando	435	82.0%	52 min	0.46%	B+
BWI to BOS · Bostonthin sample	324	78.6%	66 min	0.31%	B+
BWI to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	286	78.2%	59 min	0.35%	B+
BWI to TPA · Tampathin sample	266	78.1%	68 min	0.38%	B+
BWI to ORD · Chicagothin sample	253	77.5%	146 min	3.16%	B−
BWI to CLT · Charlottethin sample	244	81.5%	73 min	0.41%	B+
BWI to MIA · Miamithin sample	207	80.0%	79 min	0.48%	B+
BWI to DEN · Denverthin sample	202	86.1%	47 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to DTW · Detroitthin sample	175	83.2%	49 min	1.14%	B
BWI to PVD · Providencethin sample	159	81.6%	41 min	0.63%	B+
BWI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	156	80.1%	47 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to ALB · Albanythin sample	150	86.7%	47 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to BDL · Hartfordthin sample	149	79.9%	54 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to BUF · Buffalothin sample	148	79.1%	56 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to MHT · Manchesterthin sample	148	89.2%	58 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to RDU · Raleighthin sample	146	87.0%	63 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	145	75.2%	44 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to DAL · Dallasthin sample	143	83.9%	61 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	141	70.9%	48 min	0.00%	C+
BWI to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	134	78.9%	42 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to MDW · Chicagothin sample	132	82.3%	38 min	0.76%	B+
BWI to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample	123	78.0%	44 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to HOU · Houstonthin sample	120	74.2%	50 min	0.00%	C+
BWI to ORF · Norfolkthin sample	120	80.0%	37 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held BWI up in April

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 89,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
36%
Carrier
34%
National Airspace System
22%
Extreme weather
7%
Security
0%

36% 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 89,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 6 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 88,872 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.34%, 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.

5.4% 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 BWI in April

For a April trip through BWI: expect 79.9% on time and 0.34% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI), the whole year
BWI in July66.2%
BWI in August78.8%
BWI in September85.5%
BWI in October81.4%
BWI in November82.9%
BWI in December70.4%
BWI in January82.9%
BWI in February83.1%
BWI in March74.6%
BWI in May76.7%
BWI in June70.9%

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