Airport month record
CLEMAR
Cleveland Hopkins International in March 2026
- Departures
- 3,530
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at CLE, see live FAA status.
CLE in March carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.6% of scheduled flights never operate, against 2.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 3,530 flights, of which United Airlines flew 750 at 85.9% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 85.9% on time across 750 flights.
Key figures
On time
76.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,387 completed departures
Avg delay
93 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.63%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
79.6%
CLE across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,530 departures from Cleveland Hopkins International in March 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
March next to CLE's other months
Against CLE's own year, March ran 3 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where March stands out: 3.63% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.6 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, February ran 81.1% on time and April 83.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| 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 (this page) | 3,530 | 76.6% | 93 min | 3.63% | B− |
| April 2026 | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 29 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am978 flights88.3%
- 8am–11am561 flights83.4%
- 11am–2pm523 flights76.9%
- 2pm–5pm595 flights74.5%
- 5pm–8pm633 flights59.6%
- 8pm–5am240 flights59.6%
Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 59.6% on time, against 88.3% 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 978 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 79.0% on time and Monday the weakest at 74.3%. 5 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at CLE in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 85.9% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 74.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 688 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 750 | 85.9% | 85 min | 1.47% | A |
| Frontier Airlines | 688 | 74.0% | 98 min | 3.20% | C− |
| Southwest Airlines | 486 | 75.9% | 60 min | 1.85% | B |
| Republic Airways | 394 | 75.2% | 69 min | 5.84% | B− |
| American Airlines | 369 | 77.7% | 118 min | 2.17% | B |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 245 | 62.4% | 126 min | 11.02% | D− |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 241 | 85.7% | 115 min | 4.56% | A− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 174 | 67.7% | 87 min | 5.17% | C− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 75 | 73.0% | 168 min | 1.33% | C |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 50 | 72.3% | 125 min | 6.00% | C− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 31 | 46.4% | 78 min | 9.68% | F− |
Republic Airways cancels 5.8% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of CLE in March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE to ORD · Chicago | 446 | 70.5% | 97 min | 4.71% | C− |
| CLE to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 270 | 83.1% | 89 min | 5.56% | B− |
| CLE to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 235 | 76.7% | 96 min | 2.55% | B |
| CLE to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 178 | 83.5% | 51 min | 1.12% | B |
| CLE to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 170 | 83.8% | 78 min | 1.18% | B |
| CLE to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 160 | 69.3% | 105 min | 5.62% | C− |
| CLE to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 150 | 80.0% | 116 min | 2.67% | B |
| CLE to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 143 | 73.4% | 139 min | 2.10% | C |
| CLE to TPA · Tampathin sample | 138 | 80.0% | 65 min | 1.45% | B |
| CLE to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 138 | 51.7% | 106 min | 13.04% | F− |
| CLE to DEN · Denverthin sample | 133 | 76.7% | 72 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| CLE to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 117 | 72.5% | 70 min | 12.82% | C− |
| CLE to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 107 | 83.5% | 129 min | 3.74% | B− |
| CLE to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 104 | 72.9% | 151 min | 7.69% | C− |
| CLE to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 101 | 81.6% | 44 min | 1.98% | B |
| CLE to MIA · Miamithin sample | 94 | 73.3% | 170 min | 3.19% | C− |
| CLE to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 92 | 75.6% | 81 min | 2.17% | B |
| CLE to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 87 | 72.8% | 51 min | 5.75% | C− |
| CLE to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 85 | 80.5% | 91 min | 2.35% | B |
| CLE to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 83 | 78.0% | 48 min | 1.20% | B |
| CLE to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 79 | 83.5% | 111 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| CLE to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 66 | 95.4% | 130 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 58 | 75.9% | 54 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| CLE to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 51 | 90.0% | 63 min | 1.96% | A |
| CLE to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 40 | 82.5% | 116 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held CLE up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 74,000 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.
- 44%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%Carrier
- 23%National Airspace System
- 7%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
44% 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 74,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 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 73,811 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.63%, against 2.90% nationally. That is roughly one flight in 30 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.9% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from CLE in March
For a March trip through CLE: expect 76.6% on time and 3.63% cancelled, going by March 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- 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 April83.7%
- 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.