Airport month record
DFWSEP
Dallas/Fort Worth International in September 2025
- Departures
- 25,641
- Month
- September 2025
- National, same month
- 83.4%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for September 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s September. For today’s conditions at DFW, see live FAA status.
DFW in September lands a B, 6 points worse than the national rate of 83.4%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That rests on 25,641 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 1,024 at 84.2% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 84.2% on time across 1,024 flights.
Key figures
On time
77.4%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 25,105 completed departures
Avg delay
74 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.87%
Nationally in September: 0.51%
Whole year
72.8%
DFW across all twelve months
These figures cover 25,641 departures from Dallas/Fort Worth 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 DFW's other months
Against DFW's own year, September ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 72.8%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 (this page) | 25,641 | 77.4% | 74 min | 1.87% | B |
| October 2025 | 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− |
| July 2026 | 28,623 | 66.2% | 81 min | 1.20% | C |
| August 2026 | 27,347 | 73.5% | 68 min | 0.54% | C+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DFW in September
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,413 flights88.3%
- 8am–11am5,478 flights85.3%
- 11am–2pm4,420 flights80.0%
- 2pm–5pm4,689 flights72.9%
- 5pm–8pm4,967 flights69.5%
- 8pm–5am3,674 flights71.6%
Scale runs 60% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 88.3% of the time, against 69.5% for the evening window. That is 19 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 5,478 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 85.1% on time and Monday the weakest at 71.3%, a spread of 14 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DFW in September
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 84.2% of the time; American Airlines manages 73.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 12,853 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 12,853 | 73.2% | 75 min | 2.58% | C |
| Envoy Air | 5,888 | 83.5% | 59 min | 0.97% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,065 | 81.4% | 81 min | 2.13% | B |
| PSA Airlines | 1,584 | 80.1% | 79 min | 1.52% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,024 | 84.2% | 75 min | 0.59% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 843 | 76.9% | 73 min | 0.59% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 737 | 77.2% | 106 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 421 | 82.2% | 94 min | 1.43% | B |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 200 | 72.4% | 58 min | 0.50% | C+ |
Delta leads American by 11 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DFW in September
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW to LGA · New York | 590 | 79.1% | 68 min | 1.86% | B |
| DFW to ATL · Atlanta | 545 | 83.5% | 60 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| DFW to ORD · Chicago | 534 | 73.6% | 80 min | 1.50% | C |
| DFW to IAH · Houston | 498 | 70.8% | 59 min | 2.21% | C |
| DFW to LAX · Los Angeles | 485 | 76.6% | 70 min | 1.44% | B |
| DFW to DEN · Denver | 462 | 73.7% | 67 min | 1.73% | C |
| DFW to SEA · Seattle | 429 | 74.9% | 63 min | 1.40% | C |
| DFW to LAS · Las Vegas | 426 | 71.6% | 77 min | 2.35% | C |
| DFW to MIA · Miami | 404 | 76.7% | 69 min | 3.22% | B− |
| DFW to PHX · Phoenix | 402 | 75.6% | 78 min | 3.48% | B− |
| DFW to MCO · Orlando | 375 | 79.5% | 62 min | 1.33% | B |
| DFW to AUS · Austin | 370 | 77.1% | 73 min | 2.16% | B |
| DFW to SAT · San Antonio | 367 | 75.8% | 100 min | 3.27% | B− |
| DFW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 318 | 80.4% | 80 min | 1.89% | B |
| DFW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 313 | 54.6% | 72 min | 2.56% | F |
| DFW to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 308 | 74.4% | 71 min | 0.97% | C+ |
| DFW to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 302 | 76.4% | 83 min | 1.66% | B |
| DFW to XNA · Bentonvillethin sample | 301 | 69.9% | 82 min | 1.66% | C |
| DFW to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 289 | 84.9% | 79 min | 1.38% | B |
| DFW to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 289 | 75.7% | 81 min | 1.73% | B |
| DFW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 287 | 74.3% | 67 min | 2.44% | C |
| DFW to OKC · Oklahoma Citythin sample | 278 | 81.9% | 88 min | 2.52% | B |
| DFW to SGF · Springfieldthin sample | 277 | 80.5% | 59 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DFW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 270 | 72.0% | 50 min | 2.59% | C |
| DFW to MAF · Midlandthin sample | 269 | 82.0% | 68 min | 0.37% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held DFW up in September
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 42% of the 418,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 418,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 to one. The split is drawn from 418,235 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.87% against a national 0.51%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.22%.
8.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 5.4%, so 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 DFW in September
For a September trip through DFW: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 77.4% on time with 1.87% 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
- Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW), the whole year
- DFW in October75.0%
- 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%
- DFW in July66.2%
- DFW in August73.5%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.