Airport month record

CLEAPR

Cleveland Hopkins International in April 2026

Departures: 3,498
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 11

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

CLE in April lands a B, 4 points better than the national rate of 79.8%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,498 flights, of which United Airlines flew 770 at 88.1% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 88.1% on time across 770 flights.

On time

83.7%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,458 completed departures

Avg delay

76 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

1.00%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

79.6%

CLE across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,498 departures from Cleveland Hopkins 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 CLE's other months

Against CLE's own year, April ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for CLE in April, at 1.00% against 2.26% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 76.6% on time and May 84.4%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

CLE month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	3,564	75.7%	90 min	3.84%	B−
August 2025	3,492	81.8%	76 min	1.80%	B
September 2025	3,240	85.8%	82 min	0.62%	A+
October 2025	3,467	82.0%	74 min	0.46%	B+
November 2025	3,237	78.8%	84 min	2.35%	B
December 2025	3,252	71.2%	76 min	3.20%	C−
January 2026	2,874	74.2%	79 min	5.32%	C−
February 2026	2,770	81.1%	82 min	2.17%	B
March 2026	3,530	76.6%	93 min	3.63%	B−
April 2026 (this page)	3,498	83.7%	76 min	1.00%	B
May 2026	3,745	84.4%	78 min	0.96%	B+
June 2026	3,675	78.7%	83 min	2.23%	B

Departure window

The best time of day to leave CLE in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 21 points, against 8 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am949 flights92.4%
8am–11am579 flights88.2%
11am–2pm519 flights84.4%
2pm–5pm604 flights81.9%
5pm–8pm650 flights72.0%
8pm–5am197 flights71.1%

Scale runs 65% 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 71.1% for the overnight window. That is 21 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 949 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Thursday is the strongest day at 86.4% on time and Monday the weakest at 78.5%. 8 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at CLE in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 88.1% of the time; American Airlines manages 80.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 442 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at CLE in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
United Airlines	770	88.1%	82 min	0.91%	A+
Frontier Airlines	547	82.8%	77 min	1.10%	B
Southwest Airlines	469	84.2%	50 min	0.00%	B+
American Airlines	442	80.0%	72 min	1.13%	B
Republic Airways	424	82.5%	94 min	1.18%	B
Delta Air Linesthin sample	270	91.7%	68 min	1.48%	A
PSA Airlinesthin sample	226	75.9%	92 min	0.88%	B+
Envoy Airthin sample	127	74.8%	76 min	3.15%	C−
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	109	83.5%	79 min	0.00%	B+
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	72	91.7%	36 min	0.00%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	30	80.0%	42 min	0.00%	B+

United leads American by 8 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of CLE in April

Routes from CLE in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
CLE to ORD · Chicago	481	73.9%	94 min	3.33%	C−
CLE to ATL · Atlantathin sample	280	87.7%	61 min	1.43%	A
CLE to MCO · Orlandothin sample	207	85.0%	79 min	0.48%	A+
CLE to EWR · Newarkthin sample	179	92.7%	42 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	159	77.1%	103 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to CLT · Charlottethin sample	154	87.7%	46 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to DEN · Denverthin sample	140	85.0%	55 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	137	71.6%	63 min	2.19%	C
CLE to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	135	75.8%	82 min	2.22%	B
CLE to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	114	83.3%	137 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to BOS · Bostonthin sample	112	88.4%	48 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	108	83.8%	58 min	2.78%	B
CLE to TPA · Tampathin sample	106	90.6%	89 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	103	88.2%	76 min	0.97%	A+
CLE to DTW · Detroitthin sample	96	86.5%	91 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	92	83.3%	67 min	2.17%	B
CLE to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	90	82.8%	106 min	2.22%	B
CLE to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	86	95.3%	27 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to MDW · Chicagothin sample	86	80.2%	42 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	85	88.2%	28 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	83	90.4%	40 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	75	77.3%	62 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	60	88.3%	81 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to IAH · Houstonthin sample	60	90.0%	92 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to MIA · Miamithin sample	59	86.4%	72 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held CLE 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 43,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
38%
National Airspace System
31%
Carrier
29%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

38% 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 43,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 22 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 42,521 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.00% against a national 0.90%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.14%.

5.9% 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 a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from CLE in April

For a April trip through CLE: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 83.7% on time with 1.00% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Cleveland Hopkins International (CLE), the whole year
CLE in July75.7%
CLE in August81.8%
CLE in September85.8%
CLE in October82.0%
CLE in November78.8%
CLE in December71.2%
CLE in January74.2%
CLE in February81.1%
CLE in March76.6%
CLE in May84.4%
CLE in June78.7%

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