Airport month record
CLESEP
Cleveland Hopkins International in September 2025
- Departures
- 3,240
- Month
- September 2025
- National, same month
- 83.4%
- Carriers
- 12
Historical statistics for September 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s September. For today’s conditions at CLE, see live FAA status.
CLE in September earns an A+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 2 points better than the national rate of 83.4%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 3,240 flights, of which Frontier Airlines flew 448 at 87.2% on time.
Frontier Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 87.2% on time across 448 flights.
Key figures
On time
85.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,214 completed departures
Avg delay
82 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.62%
Nationally in September: 0.51%
Whole year
79.6%
CLE across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,240 departures from Cleveland Hopkins International in September 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
September next to CLE's other months
Against CLE's own year, September ran 6 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it the best of the twelve months in the data. Cancellations were unusually low for CLE in September, at 0.62% against 2.26% across the year. Either side of it, August ran 81.8% on time and October 82.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse 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 (this page) | 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 | 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 September
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 27 points, against 4 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am852 flights94.6%
- 8am–11am465 flights94.0%
- 11am–2pm514 flights88.4%
- 2pm–5pm667 flights80.1%
- 5pm–8pm588 flights75.7%
- 8pm–5am154 flights67.8%
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 94.6% of the time, against 67.8% for the overnight window. That is 27 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 852 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 83.8%. 4 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at CLE in September
The four carriers here are closely matched: 4 points separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 782 | 86.6% | 79 min | 0.26% | A+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 448 | 87.2% | 66 min | 0.45% | A+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 440 | 85.5% | 46 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| American Airlines | 380 | 83.7% | 171 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 323 | 93.2% | 64 min | 0.31% | A+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 312 | 85.9% | 66 min | 1.92% | A |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 177 | 83.3% | 95 min | 1.69% | B |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 170 | 82.9% | 65 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 78 | 57.9% | 57 min | 2.56% | D |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 48 | 85.4% | 54 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 43 | 86.0% | 122 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 39 | 97.4% | 19 min | 2.56% | A |
No carrier stands out. Frontier tops the table at 87.2%, 4 points clear of the bottom, which is inside the range this kind of sample moves year to year.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of CLE in September
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE to ORD · Chicago | 403 | 81.3% | 100 min | 0.25% | B+ |
| CLE to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 287 | 94.1% | 57 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 172 | 76.9% | 110 min | 1.16% | B |
| CLE to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 170 | 70.3% | 62 min | 2.94% | C |
| CLE to DEN · Denverthin sample | 163 | 88.3% | 68 min | 0.61% | A+ |
| CLE to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 157 | 88.3% | 64 min | 1.27% | A |
| CLE to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 144 | 82.1% | 165 min | 1.39% | B |
| CLE to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 142 | 91.5% | 89 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 137 | 79.3% | 95 min | 1.46% | B |
| CLE to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 115 | 80.7% | 56 min | 0.87% | B+ |
| CLE to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 110 | 87.3% | 51 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 108 | 88.0% | 32 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 97 | 86.6% | 81 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 87 | 88.4% | 62 min | 1.15% | A |
| CLE to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 86 | 88.4% | 39 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 78 | 89.7% | 30 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 77 | 88.3% | 57 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 74 | 94.6% | 68 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 69 | 87.0% | 97 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 60 | 89.8% | 74 min | 1.67% | A |
| CLE to TPA · Tampathin sample | 60 | 94.9% | 136 min | 1.67% | A |
| CLE to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 60 | 96.7% | 32 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 57 | 94.7% | 63 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 56 | 82.1% | 109 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| CLE to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 51 | 92.2% | 44 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held CLE up in September
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 37,000 reported delay minutes.
- 37%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Carrier
- 28%National Airspace System
- 1%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
37% 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 37,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 27 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 37,221 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.62%, below the national 0.51% 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.
5.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 5.4%. 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 September
For a September trip through CLE: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 85.8% on time with 0.62% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Cleveland Hopkins International (CLE), the whole year
- CLE in July75.7%
- CLE in August81.8%
- 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 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.