Airport month record
DFWOCT
Dallas/Fort Worth International in October 2025
- Departures
- 27,182
- Month
- October 2025
- National, same month
- 79.7%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at DFW, see live FAA status.
DFW in October sits in the middle of the pack with a B. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 5 points worse than the national rate of 79.7%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 27,182 flights, of which Envoy Air flew 6,058 at 83.5% on time.
Envoy Air is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 83.5% on time across 6,058 flights.
Key figures
On time
75.0%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 26,813 completed departures
Avg delay
64 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.20%
Nationally in October: 0.53%
Whole year
72.0%
DFW across all twelve months
These figures cover 27,182 departures from Dallas/Fort Worth 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 DFW's other months
Against DFW's own year, October ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 72.0%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for DFW in October, at 1.20% against 2.97% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 77.4% on time and November 74.3%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 28,959 | 64.3% | 76 min | 3.10% | D− |
| August 2025 | 27,091 | 65.7% | 80 min | 2.66% | C |
| September 2025 | 25,641 | 77.4% | 74 min | 1.87% | B |
| October 2025 (this page) | 27,182 | 75.0% | 64 min | 1.20% | B |
| November 2025 | 25,032 | 74.3% | 76 min | 3.47% | C− |
| December 2025 | 25,770 | 71.7% | 67 min | 0.62% | C+ |
| January 2026 | 24,229 | 75.4% | 79 min | 9.85% | B− |
| February 2026 | 22,019 | 78.9% | 63 min | 1.31% | B |
| March 2026 | 26,008 | 73.4% | 76 min | 2.51% | C |
| April 2026 | 25,686 | 73.9% | 66 min | 1.33% | C |
| May 2026 | 27,419 | 72.7% | 74 min | 3.34% | C− |
| June 2026 | 27,815 | 63.6% | 82 min | 4.55% | D− |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DFW in October
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 23 points, against 14 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,541 flights88.1%
- 8am–11am5,681 flights84.0%
- 11am–2pm4,610 flights76.8%
- 2pm–5pm5,053 flights71.6%
- 5pm–8pm5,074 flights65.6%
- 8pm–5am4,223 flights68.4%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 88.1% of the time, against 65.6% for the evening window. That is 23 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 5,681 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 84.0% on time and Saturday the weakest at 63.7%. 20 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DFW in October
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Envoy Air arrives on time 83.5% of the time; American Airlines manages 69.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 13,761 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 13,761 | 69.6% | 66 min | 1.34% | C |
| Envoy Air | 6,058 | 83.5% | 53 min | 1.02% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,256 | 76.3% | 68 min | 1.20% | B |
| PSA Airlines | 1,609 | 83.5% | 84 min | 1.80% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,056 | 79.4% | 69 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 889 | 76.5% | 60 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 873 | 74.2% | 55 min | 0.34% | C+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 452 | 80.4% | 68 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 197 | 74.2% | 46 min | 1.52% | C |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 31 | 38.7% | 72 min | 0.00% | F+ |
The spread between Envoy and American is 14 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 14 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DFW in October
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW to LGA · New York | 614 | 64.2% | 66 min | 1.79% | D |
| DFW to ORD · Chicago | 606 | 73.5% | 62 min | 0.50% | C+ |
| DFW to ATL · Atlanta | 576 | 80.4% | 58 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| DFW to LAX · Los Angeles | 559 | 74.5% | 58 min | 1.07% | C |
| DFW to DEN · Denver | 522 | 72.4% | 57 min | 1.34% | C |
| DFW to IAH · Houston | 503 | 65.1% | 47 min | 1.59% | C |
| DFW to LAS · Las Vegas | 476 | 70.1% | 79 min | 1.05% | C |
| DFW to SEA · Seattle | 442 | 68.9% | 51 min | 0.90% | C+ |
| DFW to PHX · Phoenix | 432 | 72.2% | 60 min | 1.39% | C |
| DFW to AUS · Austin | 417 | 68.4% | 52 min | 2.64% | C |
| DFW to MIA · Miami | 416 | 73.1% | 61 min | 0.72% | C+ |
| DFW to MCO · Orlando | 388 | 63.3% | 78 min | 2.32% | D |
| DFW to SAT · San Antonio | 384 | 70.6% | 71 min | 1.82% | C |
| DFW to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 354 | 69.9% | 58 min | 1.69% | C |
| DFW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 350 | 49.7% | 75 min | 1.14% | F |
| DFW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 326 | 76.5% | 70 min | 0.31% | B+ |
| DFW to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 323 | 68.8% | 67 min | 0.62% | C+ |
| DFW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 314 | 69.8% | 63 min | 1.59% | C |
| DFW to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 310 | 84.1% | 75 min | 0.65% | B+ |
| DFW to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 307 | 65.1% | 65 min | 1.95% | C |
| DFW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 299 | 68.6% | 56 min | 1.00% | C |
| DFW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 298 | 78.7% | 64 min | 0.67% | B+ |
| DFW to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 297 | 66.0% | 63 min | 2.02% | C |
| DFW to XNA · Bentonvillethin sample | 296 | 78.6% | 65 min | 2.03% | B |
| DFW to OKC · Oklahoma Citythin sample | 289 | 78.2% | 59 min | 1.38% | B |
Delay causes
What held DFW 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 430,000 reported delay minutes.
- 41%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 8%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
41% 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 430,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 5 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 430,292 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.20% against a national 0.53%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.16%.
8.6% 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 DFW in October
For a October trip through DFW: expect 75.0% on time and 1.20% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW), the whole year
- DFW in July64.3%
- DFW in August65.7%
- DFW in September77.4%
- DFW in November74.3%
- DFW in December71.7%
- DFW in January75.4%
- DFW in February78.9%
- DFW in March73.4%
- DFW in April73.9%
- DFW in May72.7%
- DFW in June63.6%
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.