Airport month record

HOUAPR

William P. Hobby in April 2026

Departures: 4,418
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 4

Historical statistics for April 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s April. For today’s conditions at HOU, see live FAA status.

HOU in April sits in the middle of the pack with a B+. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 4 points worse than the national rate of 79.8%. The late ones land about 50 minutes behind schedule. That rests on 4,418 flights, with a median arrival 2 minutes early.

The national on-time rate over the same period is 79.8%, so hou in april runs 4 points behind the country as a whole. Across a thousand flights that is about 40 extra late arrivals.

On time

75.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,402 completed departures

Avg delay

50 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.14%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

76.9%

HOU across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,418 departures from William P. Hobby in April 2026. 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

April next to HOU's other months

Against HOU's own year, April ran about a point worse than the twelve-month rate of 76.9%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for HOU in April, at 0.14% against 0.84% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 67.5% on time and May 71.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

HOU month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	5,093	70.7%	59 min	0.79%	C+
August 2025	4,640	78.2%	56 min	0.37%	B+
September 2025	4,452	86.1%	45 min	0.11%	A+
October 2025	4,887	78.0%	50 min	0.23%	B+
November 2025	4,552	80.1%	58 min	2.20%	B
December 2025	4,634	82.0%	49 min	0.43%	B+
January 2026	4,081	88.0%	44 min	2.55%	A
February 2026	3,832	84.2%	48 min	0.68%	B+
March 2026	4,578	67.5%	54 min	1.42%	C
April 2026 (this page)	4,418	75.8%	50 min	0.14%	B+
May 2026	4,533	71.9%	51 min	0.79%	C+
June 2026	4,514	63.6%	56 min	0.62%	D+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave HOU in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 32 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am451 flights92.9%
8am–11am993 flights89.6%
11am–2pm648 flights81.2%
2pm–5pm912 flights61.0%
5pm–8pm661 flights65.5%
8pm–5am753 flights69.6%

Scale runs 55% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.9% of the time, against 61.0% for the afternoon window. That is 32 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 993 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 84.2% on time and Sunday the weakest at 68.5%. 16 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at HOU in April

Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.

Carriers at HOU in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	4,147	75.7%	46 min	0.10%	B+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	116	89.6%	174 min	0.86%	A+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	92	65.6%	97 min	0.00%	C+
Envoy Airthin sample	30	62.1%	76 min	3.33%	D−

Route by route

Busiest routes out of HOU in April

Routes from HOU in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
HOU to DAL · Dallasthin sample	345	81.0%	59 min	0.58%	B+
HOU to ATL · Atlantathin sample	235	84.2%	92 min	0.43%	B+
HOU to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	193	86.5%	39 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	193	73.1%	39 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to MCO · Orlandothin sample	181	80.7%	37 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to DEN · Denverthin sample	177	80.8%	41 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	164	75.0%	51 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	150	80.5%	41 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to MDW · Chicagothin sample	150	73.5%	52 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	146	67.8%	103 min	0.68%	C+
HOU to STL · St. Louisthin sample	132	80.2%	58 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	120	75.0%	40 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	115	55.8%	62 min	0.87%	D+
HOU to MAF · Midlandthin sample	112	88.4%	36 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to SAT · San Antoniothin sample	98	76.5%	56 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to AUS · Austinthin sample	98	66.3%	48 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to OKC · Oklahoma Citythin sample	93	74.2%	55 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to TPA · Tampathin sample	90	68.9%	37 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample	90	81.1%	33 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	89	62.9%	40 min	0.00%	D+
HOU to ELP · El Pasothin sample	89	64.0%	42 min	0.00%	D+
HOU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	87	71.3%	46 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to HRL · Harlingenthin sample	86	80.2%	53 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to CRP · Corpus Christithin sample	86	77.9%	54 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to SAN · San Diegothin sample	85	70.6%	38 min	0.00%	C+

Delay causes

What held HOU up in April

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 53,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
41%
Carrier
36%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
3%
Security
0%

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 53,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 14 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 52,908 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.14%, below the national 0.90% 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.

5.9% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. 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 50 minutes, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from HOU in April

For a April trip through HOU: expect 75.8% on time and 0.14% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Where to go next

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