Airport month record

CLEMAY

Cleveland Hopkins International in May 2026

Departures: 3,745
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 11

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

CLE in May earns a B+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 6 points better than the national rate of 78.6%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 3,745 flights, of which United Airlines flew 818 at 89.1% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 89.1% on time across 818 flights.

On time

84.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,699 completed departures

Avg delay

78 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.96%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

79.6%

CLE across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,745 departures from Cleveland Hopkins International in May 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

May next to CLE's other months

Against CLE's own year, May ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for CLE in May, at 0.96% against 2.26% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 83.7% on time and June 78.7%, 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	3,498	83.7%	76 min	1.00%	B
May 2026 (this page)	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 May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 8 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am985 flights92.1%
8am–11am635 flights91.8%
11am–2pm534 flights87.5%
2pm–5pm681 flights80.3%
5pm–8pm691 flights73.5%
8pm–5am219 flights67.6%

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 92.1% of the time, against 67.6% for the overnight window. That is 25 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 985 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 85.9% on time and Monday the weakest at 81.9%. 4 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at CLE in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 89.1% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 81.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 472 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at CLE in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
United Airlines	818	89.1%	89 min	0.24%	A+
Frontier Airlines	608	82.6%	82 min	0.66%	B+
Southwest Airlines	472	81.3%	51 min	0.00%	B+
American Airlines	453	82.2%	74 min	1.55%	B
Republic Airways	422	87.3%	66 min	2.61%	A
Delta Air Linesthin sample	364	90.3%	50 min	1.10%	A
PSA Airlinesthin sample	207	73.8%	129 min	2.42%	C
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	173	84.0%	117 min	1.73%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	95	83.2%	90 min	0.00%	B+
Envoy Airthin sample	88	81.8%	48 min	0.00%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	45	64.4%	55 min	0.00%	D+

United leads Southwest 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 May

Routes from CLE in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
CLE to ORD · Chicago	468	79.9%	94 min	2.14%	B
CLE to ATL · Atlantathin sample	311	83.0%	47 min	1.29%	B
CLE to MCO · Orlandothin sample	210	89.5%	133 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	185	84.3%	54 min	2.70%	B
CLE to EWR · Newarkthin sample	182	91.1%	86 min	1.65%	A
CLE to DEN · Denverthin sample	161	86.3%	49 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to CLT · Charlottethin sample	154	82.5%	103 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	147	78.6%	46 min	2.72%	B
CLE to BOS · Bostonthin sample	140	84.3%	86 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	139	69.9%	122 min	2.16%	C
CLE to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	126	91.9%	25 min	0.79%	A+
CLE to TPA · Tampathin sample	107	86.8%	121 min	0.93%	A+
CLE to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	104	91.3%	63 min	0.96%	A+
CLE to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	98	88.4%	132 min	3.06%	A−
CLE to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	97	96.9%	44 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	92	75.0%	74 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	92	85.9%	55 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	88	86.4%	51 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	87	81.4%	50 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to MDW · Chicagothin sample	87	86.2%	54 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	86	84.9%	32 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to DTW · Detroitthin sample	82	84.0%	170 min	0.00%	B+
CLE to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	72	88.9%	100 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	71	94.4%	128 min	0.00%	A+
CLE to MIA · Miamithin sample	70	88.6%	41 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held CLE up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 45% of the 45,000 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
45%
Carrier
27%
National Airspace System
27%
Extreme weather
1%

45% 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 45,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 35 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 45,103 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 0.96% against a national 0.92%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.27%.

5.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%. 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 May

For a May trip through CLE: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.4% on time with 0.96% 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 April83.7%
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