Airport month record

DTWOCT

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in October 2025

Departures: 10,950
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 12

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

DTW in October earns an A+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 6 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 10,950 flights, of which American Airlines flew 434 at 88.4% on time.

American Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 88.4% on time across 434 flights.

On time

85.3%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,903 completed departures

Avg delay

66 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.27%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

76.9%

DTW across all twelve months

These figures cover 10,950 departures from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County 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 DTW's other months

Against DTW's own year, October ran 8 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.9%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for DTW in October, at 0.27% against 1.82% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 87.1% on time and November 78.4%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

DTW month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	11,248	73.0%	80 min	1.97%	C
August 2025	10,916	81.3%	68 min	0.58%	B+
September 2025	10,014	87.1%	67 min	0.19%	A+
October 2025 (this page)	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,292 flights92.8%
8am–11am2,653 flights90.7%
11am–2pm1,562 flights87.2%
2pm–5pm2,120 flights82.9%
5pm–8pm1,464 flights74.2%
8pm–5am1,859 flights82.5%

Scale runs 65% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.8% of the time, against 74.2% 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 2,653 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 90.3% on time and Sunday the weakest at 80.0%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at DTW in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 88.4% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 78.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 390 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at DTW in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Delta Air Lines	5,370	86.4%	60 min	0.15%	A+
SkyWest Airlines	2,572	87.0%	70 min	0.00%	A+
Spirit Airlines	982	84.3%	65 min	0.92%	B+
Republic Airways	516	81.7%	66 min	1.55%	B
American Airlines	434	88.4%	105 min	0.23%	A+
Southwest Airlines	390	78.1%	43 min	0.00%	B+
United Airlinesthin sample	191	77.9%	55 min	0.52%	B+
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	163	75.0%	104 min	1.84%	B
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	152	78.3%	101 min	0.00%	B+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	113	75.2%	130 min	0.00%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	36	82.9%	58 min	0.00%	B+
Envoy Airthin sample	31	77.4%	108 min	0.00%	B+

American leads Southwest by 10 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of DTW in October

Routes from DTW in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
DTW to ORD · Chicago	519	75.7%	67 min	0.00%	B+
DTW to ATL · Atlanta	428	86.4%	65 min	0.23%	A+
DTW to LGA · New York	386	73.5%	66 min	3.37%	C−
DTW to EWR · Newarkthin sample	348	71.7%	68 min	1.44%	C
DTW to CLT · Charlottethin sample	321	91.0%	63 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to MCO · Orlandothin sample	321	85.3%	91 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	310	81.8%	113 min	0.65%	B+
DTW to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	309	84.7%	40 min	0.32%	B+
DTW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	282	86.5%	60 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to BOS · Bostonthin sample	279	71.7%	89 min	1.08%	C
DTW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	258	81.4%	96 min	0.00%	B+
DTW to DEN · Denverthin sample	258	84.4%	47 min	0.39%	B+
DTW to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	234	84.2%	38 min	0.00%	B+
DTW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	232	82.3%	40 min	0.00%	B+
DTW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	232	90.5%	65 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	216	86.4%	70 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	199	88.9%	58 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to GRR · Grand Rapidsthin sample	189	86.2%	64 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to TPA · Tampathin sample	181	90.1%	48 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to STL · St. Louisthin sample	171	78.9%	56 min	0.00%	B+
DTW to IAH · Houstonthin sample	168	91.7%	47 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to SEA · Seattlethin sample	159	87.3%	37 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to MDW · Chicagothin sample	154	85.1%	52 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	154	87.7%	80 min	0.00%	A+
DTW to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	154	79.9%	103 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held DTW up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 51% of the 106,000 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.

Carrier
51%
National Airspace System
27%
Late-arriving aircraft
20%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 51%, 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 54,000 of the 106,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 106,181 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.27%, 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.

5.0% 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 DTW in October

For a October trip through DTW: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 85.3% on time with 0.27% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW), the whole year
DTW in July73.0%
DTW in August81.3%
DTW in September87.1%
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.

Key figures