Airport month record

CMHOCT

John Glenn Columbus International in October 2025

Departures: 4,031
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 11

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

CMH in October lands a B+, about a point 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 an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,031 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,104 at 83.8% on time.

On time

81.1%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,994 completed departures

Avg delay

67 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.72%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

80.1%

CMH across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,031 departures from John Glenn Columbus International 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 CMH's other months

Against CMH's own year, October ran about a point better than the twelve-month rate of 80.1%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for CMH in October, at 0.72% against 2.05% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 85.2% on time and November 79.9%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

CMH month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	3,933	73.3%	79 min	3.41%	C−
August 2025	3,758	82.1%	68 min	1.41%	B
September 2025	3,726	85.2%	67 min	0.51%	A+
October 2025 (this page)	4,031	81.1%	67 min	0.72%	B+
November 2025	3,641	79.9%	77 min	1.81%	B
December 2025	3,567	70.7%	75 min	1.68%	C
January 2026	3,296	81.6%	78 min	6.28%	B−
February 2026	3,231	82.9%	75 min	2.72%	B
March 2026	4,010	76.4%	86 min	3.24%	B−
April 2026	3,713	84.2%	72 min	0.51%	B+
May 2026	3,860	83.4%	65 min	1.22%	B
June 2026	3,876	81.0%	78 min	1.57%	B

Departure window

The best time of day to leave CMH in October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 5 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,010 flights92.4%
8am–11am684 flights89.1%
11am–2pm706 flights82.3%
2pm–5pm617 flights73.0%
5pm–8pm803 flights68.6%
8pm–5am211 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 92.4% of the time, against 67.8% 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 1,010 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 87.4% on time and Monday the weakest at 73.9%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at CMH in October

The two carriers here are closely matched: 5 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.

Carriers at CMH in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Republic Airways	1,210	79.0%	61 min	1.32%	B
Southwest Airlines	1,104	83.8%	48 min	0.18%	B+
American Airlinesthin sample	360	85.1%	110 min	0.83%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	325	92.6%	61 min	0.31%	A+
United Airlinesthin sample	301	75.3%	54 min	0.33%	B+
Envoy Airthin sample	272	75.3%	83 min	0.37%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	147	72.0%	112 min	2.72%	C
PSA Airlinesthin sample	145	79.7%	68 min	0.69%	B+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	94	81.9%	139 min	0.00%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	40	65.0%	64 min	0.00%	C+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	33	75.8%	65 min	0.00%	B+

No carrier stands out. Southwest tops the table at 83.8%, 5 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 CMH in October

Routes from CMH in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
CMH to ORD · Chicago	438	72.5%	79 min	0.46%	C+
CMH to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	305	68.7%	63 min	3.28%	C−
CMH to ATL · Atlantathin sample	294	88.0%	54 min	0.34%	A+
CMH to MCO · Orlandothin sample	202	80.6%	101 min	0.50%	B+
CMH to EWR · Newarkthin sample	189	75.1%	53 min	2.12%	B
CMH to BOS · Bostonthin sample	179	75.0%	69 min	1.68%	B
CMH to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	173	83.2%	51 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to CLT · Charlottethin sample	172	89.5%	61 min	0.00%	A+
CMH to DEN · Denverthin sample	166	81.8%	40 min	0.60%	B+
CMH to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	165	78.3%	74 min	1.21%	B
CMH to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	155	88.9%	101 min	1.29%	A
CMH to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	155	82.9%	71 min	0.65%	B+
CMH to MDW · Chicagothin sample	119	84.9%	53 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	110	75.5%	48 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to DTW · Detroitthin sample	109	93.6%	78 min	0.00%	A+
CMH to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	107	87.9%	170 min	0.00%	A+
CMH to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	98	94.9%	72 min	0.00%	A+
CMH to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	97	83.5%	51 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	87	79.3%	45 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to TPA · Tampathin sample	65	83.1%	47 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to MIA · Miamithin sample	62	79.0%	38 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to IAH · Houstonthin sample	62	79.0%	67 min	0.00%	B+
CMH to STL · St. Louisthin sample	57	89.5%	27 min	0.00%	A+
CMH to DAL · Dallasthin sample	56	87.0%	57 min	1.79%	A
CMH to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	56	83.6%	56 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held CMH 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 51,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
37%
National Airspace System
34%
Carrier
29%
Extreme weather
0%
Security
0%

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 51,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 37 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 50,842 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.72%, 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.

5.9% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. 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 about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from CMH in October

For a October trip through CMH: expect 81.1% on time and 0.72% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

John Glenn Columbus International (CMH), the whole year
CMH in July73.3%
CMH in August82.1%
CMH in September85.2%
CMH in November79.9%
CMH in December70.7%
CMH in January81.6%
CMH in February82.9%
CMH in March76.4%
CMH in April84.2%
CMH in May83.4%
CMH in June81.0%

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