Airport month record
DTWAUG
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in August 2025
- Departures
- 10,916
- Month
- August 2025
- National, same month
- 77.4%
- Carriers
- 12
Historical statistics for August 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at DTW, see live FAA status.
DTW in August lands a B+, 4 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 10,916 flights, of which Spirit Airlines flew 1,249 at 84.2% on time.
Spirit Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 84.2% on time across 1,249 flights.
Key figures
On time
81.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,812 completed departures
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.58%
Nationally in August: 1.08%
Whole year
76.9%
DTW across all twelve months
These figures cover 10,916 departures from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in August 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
August next to DTW's other months
Against DTW's own year, August ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.9%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for DTW in August, at 0.58% against 1.82% across the year. Either side of it, July ran 73.0% on time and September 87.1%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 11,248 | 73.0% | 80 min | 1.97% | C |
| August 2025 (this page) | 10,916 | 81.3% | 68 min | 0.58% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 10,014 | 87.1% | 67 min | 0.19% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 10,950 | 85.3% | 66 min | 0.27% | A+ |
| November 2025 | 9,887 | 78.4% | 78 min | 2.59% | B |
| December 2025 | 9,934 | 62.0% | 87 min | 2.52% | D |
| January 2026 | 9,518 | 64.8% | 83 min | 3.92% | D− |
| February 2026 | 9,122 | 75.7% | 77 min | 2.13% | B |
| March 2026 | 10,701 | 71.6% | 87 min | 4.02% | C− |
| April 2026 | 10,417 | 81.1% | 65 min | 1.27% | B |
| May 2026 | 10,112 | 80.9% | 68 min | 1.27% | B |
| June 2026 | 9,869 | 79.1% | 73 min | 1.43% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DTW in August
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 5 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,365 flights89.5%
- 8am–11am2,727 flights87.5%
- 11am–2pm1,474 flights84.5%
- 2pm–5pm2,035 flights77.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,460 flights71.3%
- 8pm–5am1,855 flights75.4%
Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.5% of the time, against 71.3% 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 2,727 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Thursday is the strongest day at 83.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 78.3%. 6 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DTW in August
The five 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.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 5,180 | 81.9% | 63 min | 0.50% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,386 | 79.5% | 74 min | 0.29% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,249 | 84.2% | 67 min | 0.32% | B+ |
| Republic Airways | 538 | 83.2% | 76 min | 1.30% | B |
| American Airlines | 420 | 79.2% | 100 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 361 | 81.9% | 43 min | 0.28% | B+ |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 223 | 74.8% | 56 min | 2.24% | C |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 197 | 79.0% | 72 min | 1.02% | B |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 135 | 81.5% | 102 min | 2.96% | B |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 111 | 86.4% | 83 min | 0.90% | A+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 62 | 64.5% | 38 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 54 | 73.1% | 43 min | 3.70% | C− |
No carrier stands out. Spirit tops the table at 84.2%, 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 DTW in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTW to ORD · Chicago | 501 | 75.5% | 61 min | 2.79% | B |
| DTW to ATL · Atlanta | 444 | 80.2% | 59 min | 0.45% | B+ |
| DTW to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 355 | 70.8% | 79 min | 1.41% | C |
| DTW to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 333 | 83.3% | 90 min | 1.20% | B |
| DTW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 317 | 79.3% | 89 min | 1.58% | B |
| DTW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 313 | 85.9% | 62 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DTW to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 293 | 75.9% | 75 min | 1.37% | B |
| DTW to DEN · Denverthin sample | 281 | 84.4% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 268 | 76.6% | 81 min | 1.12% | B |
| DTW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 250 | 77.4% | 69 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| DTW to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 244 | 88.5% | 51 min | 0.41% | A+ |
| DTW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 233 | 78.9% | 60 min | 1.72% | B |
| DTW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 227 | 83.2% | 62 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 227 | 85.0% | 56 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DTW to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 214 | 83.5% | 38 min | 0.93% | B+ |
| DTW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 211 | 90.0% | 44 min | 0.95% | A+ |
| DTW to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 206 | 79.9% | 62 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 202 | 86.0% | 46 min | 0.99% | A+ |
| DTW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 189 | 69.3% | 94 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DTW to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 186 | 83.8% | 84 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DTW to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 175 | 85.1% | 55 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| DTW to TPA · Tampathin sample | 170 | 85.5% | 43 min | 1.18% | A |
| DTW to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 160 | 77.1% | 56 min | 1.25% | B |
| DTW to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 160 | 76.1% | 58 min | 0.62% | B+ |
| DTW to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 151 | 86.0% | 76 min | 0.66% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held DTW up in August
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 57% of the 138,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 57%Carrier
- 21%National Airspace System
- 18%Late-arriving aircraft
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 57%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 78,000 of the 138,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 137,530 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.58%, below the national 1.08% 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.
6.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. 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 DTW in August
For a August trip through DTW: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 81.3% on time with 0.58% 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
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW), the whole year
- DTW in July73.0%
- DTW in September87.1%
- DTW in October85.3%
- DTW in November78.4%
- DTW in December62.0%
- DTW in January64.8%
- DTW in February75.7%
- DTW in March71.6%
- DTW in April81.1%
- DTW in May80.9%
- DTW in June79.1%
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.