Airport month record

BWIOCT

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall in October 2025

Departures: 8,475
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 9

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

BWI in October lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about 50 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 8,475 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 484 at 91.1% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 91.1% on time across 484 flights.

On time

81.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,451 completed departures

Avg delay

49 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.14%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

77.6%

BWI across all twelve months

These figures cover 8,475 departures from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall 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 BWI's other months

Against BWI's own year, October ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 77.6%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for BWI in October, at 0.14% against 1.71% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 85.5% on time and November 82.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page)	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	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 October

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–8am1,190 flights92.4%
8am–11am1,880 flights89.4%
11am–2pm1,230 flights84.6%
2pm–5pm1,377 flights79.3%
5pm–8pm1,487 flights71.4%
8pm–5am1,311 flights70.2%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.4% of the time, against 70.2% for the overnight 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 1,880 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.7% on time and Sunday the weakest at 72.8%. 16 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at BWI in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 91.1% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 80.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 6,371 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at BWI in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	6,371	80.0%	46 min	0.08%	B+
Delta Air Lines	484	91.1%	71 min	0.00%	A+
United Airlines	396	87.8%	38 min	0.00%	A+
Spirit Airlines	394	85.4%	51 min	1.02%	A
American Airlinesthin sample	350	79.1%	75 min	0.00%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	251	82.9%	76 min	0.00%	B+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	107	73.3%	83 min	1.87%	C
Envoy Airthin sample	67	88.1%	40 min	0.00%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	55	88.9%	53 min	1.82%	A

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 BWI in October

Routes from BWI in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
BWI to ATL · Atlanta	502	85.6%	47 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to MCO · Orlandothin sample	363	80.6%	71 min	0.55%	B+
BWI to BOS · Bostonthin sample	336	67.9%	73 min	0.89%	C+
BWI to CLT · Charlottethin sample	288	82.6%	55 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to DEN · Denverthin sample	269	89.2%	33 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	267	82.0%	46 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to ORD · Chicagothin sample	246	78.0%	65 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to DTW · Detroitthin sample	231	90.9%	90 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to TPA · Tampathin sample	212	80.0%	43 min	0.47%	B+
BWI to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	186	85.5%	53 min	0.00%	A+
BWI to MDW · Chicagothin sample	184	76.6%	39 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to MIA · Miamithin sample	178	83.0%	46 min	0.56%	B+
BWI to PVD · Providencethin sample	171	83.0%	45 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	169	80.2%	46 min	0.59%	B+
BWI to RDU · Raleighthin sample	167	76.6%	55 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	164	78.7%	37 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to DAL · Dallasthin sample	163	79.6%	46 min	0.61%	B+
BWI to ALB · Albanythin sample	150	81.3%	42 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to BDL · Hartfordthin sample	150	82.0%	56 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to MHT · Manchesterthin sample	150	84.0%	43 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to ORF · Norfolkthin sample	149	80.5%	39 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to BUF · Buffalothin sample	149	80.5%	34 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to HOU · Houstonthin sample	130	76.9%	35 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	128	84.4%	46 min	0.00%	B+
BWI to PWM · Portlandthin sample	123	85.4%	42 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held BWI up in October

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 77,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
39%
Carrier
37%
National Airspace System
21%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

39% 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 77,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 20 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 77,477 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.14%, 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 4.1% 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 BWI in October

For a October trip through BWI: expect 81.4% on time and 0.14% cancelled, going by October 2025. 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 November82.9%
BWI in December70.4%
BWI in January82.9%
BWI in February83.1%
BWI in March74.6%
BWI in April79.9%
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