Detroit, MI · departure reliability
DTW
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County
- Departures
- 121,140
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Carriers
- 12
- US rank
- #16 by volume
Detroit
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County lands a B, level with the national rate of 77.3%. About 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 121,140 flights, of which American Airlines flew 4,850 at 81.9% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the twelve carriers covered here at 81.9% on time across 4,850 flights.
Key figures
On time
76.7%
Departures arriving under 15 minutes late at their destination
Avg delay
77 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.97%
National rate is 1.89%
Best carrier
American
81.9% on time here
These figures cover 121,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines run best out of DTW
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 81.9% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 70.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,308 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 60,378 | 77.8% | 65 min | 1.48% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 28,477 | 74.1% | 97 min | 2.11% | C |
| Republic Airways | 6,251 | 81.7% | 76 min | 3.54% | B− |
| Spirit Airlines | 6,187 | 73.9% | 70 min | 3.64% | C− |
| American Airlines | 4,850 | 81.9% | 98 min | 1.98% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 4,460 | 74.4% | 50 min | 0.81% | C+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,308 | 70.6% | 92 min | 1.78% | C |
| United Airlines | 2,331 | 78.3% | 74 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| PSA Airlines | 1,979 | 73.4% | 118 min | 6.87% | C− |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,299 | 76.1% | 82 min | 5.31% | B− |
| Envoy Air | 1,070 | 79.7% | 87 min | 3.08% | B− |
| Alaska Airlines | 550 | 76.8% | 52 min | 0.36% | B+ |
PSA Airlines cancels 6.9% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DTW
Route-level records vary far more than the airport average. These are the 25 busiest departures from DTW, each with its own on-time rate against the airport-wide 76.7%.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTW to ORD · Chicago | 6,014 | 72.2% | 92 min | 3.11% | C− |
| DTW to ATL · Atlanta | 4,832 | 78.9% | 75 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| DTW to LGA · New York | 3,862 | 74.7% | 76 min | 5.44% | C− |
| DTW to EWR · Newark | 3,642 | 77.4% | 76 min | 5.55% | B− |
| DTW to MCO · Orlando | 3,600 | 75.4% | 74 min | 0.97% | B+ |
| DTW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 3,482 | 75.8% | 73 min | 2.24% | B |
| DTW to CLT · Charlotte | 3,476 | 83.3% | 90 min | 1.81% | B |
| DTW to DEN · Denver | 3,110 | 79.5% | 62 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| DTW to PHL · Philadelphia | 3,000 | 78.4% | 99 min | 3.87% | B− |
| DTW to DCA · Washington | 2,971 | 68.3% | 79 min | 4.24% | C− |
| DTW to LAS · Las Vegas | 2,768 | 73.6% | 59 min | 0.61% | C+ |
| DTW to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 2,692 | 71.5% | 69 min | 2.34% | C |
| DTW to BOS · Boston | 2,572 | 73.6% | 71 min | 2.72% | C |
| DTW to BNA · Nashville | 2,413 | 78.1% | 52 min | 1.33% | B |
| DTW to PHX · Phoenix | 2,374 | 75.9% | 84 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| DTW to LAX · Los Angeles | 2,361 | 75.8% | 59 min | 1.06% | B |
| DTW to TPA · Tampa | 2,290 | 78.7% | 65 min | 1.88% | B |
| DTW to BWI · Baltimore | 2,230 | 80.7% | 62 min | 1.43% | B |
| DTW to IAH · Houston | 2,083 | 78.5% | 62 min | 0.96% | B+ |
| DTW to SEA · Seattle | 2,067 | 72.8% | 56 min | 0.68% | C+ |
| DTW to STL · St. Louis | 1,899 | 76.6% | 64 min | 1.11% | B |
| DTW to MSP · Minneapolis | 1,881 | 79.8% | 62 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| DTW to SFO · San Francisco | 1,792 | 66.4% | 65 min | 0.67% | C+ |
| DTW to RSW · Fort Myers | 1,774 | 74.5% | 67 min | 1.97% | C |
| DTW to MIA · Miami | 1,757 | 80.7% | 63 min | 1.42% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DTW
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am14,953 flights86.0%
- 8am–11am29,721 flights81.9%
- 11am–2pm15,775 flights78.5%
- 2pm–5pm24,171 flights73.6%
- 5pm–8pm15,097 flights67.7%
- 8pm–5am21,423 flights71.6%
Scale runs 60% to 90%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 86.0% of the time, against 67.7% for the evening window. That is 18 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 29,721 flights scheduled in it.
Explore
Filter DTW departures by airline, time, month and day
Pick a breakdown and a carrier. The dashed mark on each row is the same slice for every US flight.
On departures from Detroit (DTW), the best departure window is 5am–8am at 86.0% on time and the worst is 5pm–8pm at 67.7%, a wide gap of 18.3 points. All US flights leaving 5am–8am ran 89.3%.
- 5–8am86.0%
- 8–11am81.9%
- 11am–2pm78.5%
- 2–5pm73.6%
- 5–8pm67.7%
- 8pm–5am71.6%
best all US flightsScale 60% to 95%.
Across the year
When DTW runs late
DTW's year swings by 25 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
December is the weak month at 62.0% on time, against 87.1% in September. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days. October was the busiest month here, with 10,950 flights.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 79.3% on time and Sunday the weakest at 71.9%, a spread of 7 points.
DTW month by month
From Europe
Transatlantic routes into DTW
8 European airports send scheduled passenger flights to DTW, 6,922 flights a year in both directions by the DOT's international count. The DOT keeps no delay record for international flights; the UK routes carry the CAA's departure punctuality, and every route sets its departure airport's EUROCONTROL figures beside DTW's own record above.
Delay causes
Why DTW gets delayed
Carrier accounts for 51% of the 2.12 million delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 51%Carrier
- 22%National Airspace System
- 19%Late-arriving aircraft
- 8%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 51%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 1.08 million of the 2.12 million delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 2,123,867 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.97% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.22%.
9.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
121,140 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
What to do with this
Flying out of DTW
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 87.1% on time and December 62.0%, a swing of 25 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of December before you think about anything else. 118,484 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
DTW delay questions
How often is Detroit (DTW) delayed?
About one flight in four arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 23.3% of the 121,140 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Detroit (DTW)?
American Airlines leads at 81.9% on time across 4,850 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 70.6%, a gap of 11 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Detroit (DTW)?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 86.0% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 67.7%, 18 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on Detroit (DTW)?
December is the weakest month at 62.0% on time, compared with 87.1% in September. Across the year that is 25 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- DTW to ORD — Chicago72.2%
- DTW to ATL — Atlanta78.9%
- DTW to LGA — New York74.7%
- DTW to EWR — Newark77.4%
- DTW to MCO — Orlando75.4%
- DTW to DFW — Dallas-Fort Worth75.8%
- Delta Air Lines on-time record77.8%
- SkyWest Airlines on-time record74.1%
- Republic Airways on-time record81.7%
- Spirit Airlines on-time record73.9%
- How often a connection fails at the major US hubs
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
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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.