Airport month record

HOUFEB

William P. Hobby in February 2026

Departures: 3,832
Month: February 2026
National, same month: 80.2%
Carriers: 4

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

HOU in February earns a B+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 4 points better than the national rate of 80.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs roughly 50 minutes. That rests on 3,832 flights, with a median arrival 6 minutes early.

Set against the rest of the country, HOU's February record is 4 points better than the US average of 80.2%. That gap is worth roughly 40 fewer late arrivals for every thousand flights.

On time

84.2%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,803 completed departures

Avg delay

48 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.68%

Nationally in February: 2.25%

Whole year

76.9%

HOU across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,832 departures from William P. Hobby in February 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

February next to HOU's other months

Against HOU's own year, February ran 7 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.9%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, January ran 88.0% on time and March 67.5%, 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 (this page)	3,832	84.2%	48 min	0.68%	B+
March 2026	4,578	67.5%	54 min	1.42%	C
April 2026	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 February

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 20 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–8am493 flights94.7%
8am–11am769 flights92.5%
11am–2pm721 flights84.6%
2pm–5pm632 flights81.4%
5pm–8pm598 flights76.9%
8pm–5am619 flights75.2%

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 94.7% of the time, against 75.2% for the overnight window. That is 20 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 769 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Monday is the strongest day at 86.2% on time and Saturday the weakest at 81.0%. 5 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at HOU in February

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 February 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	3,601	84.1%	44 min	0.58%	B+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	97	89.5%	169 min	1.03%	A
PSA Airlinesthin sample	83	81.2%	105 min	3.61%	B−
Envoy Airthin sample	39	86.8%	27 min	2.56%	A

Route by route

Busiest routes out of HOU in February

Routes from HOU in February 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
HOU to DAL · Dallasthin sample	323	87.8%	48 min	0.93%	A+
HOU to ATL · Atlantathin sample	199	83.2%	84 min	0.50%	B+
HOU to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	187	88.2%	37 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to DEN · Denverthin sample	184	83.6%	65 min	0.54%	B+
HOU to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	162	84.0%	35 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	158	90.5%	57 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to MCO · Orlandothin sample	143	79.4%	68 min	0.70%	B+
HOU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	139	87.1%	40 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	126	83.6%	85 min	3.17%	B−
HOU to AUS · Austinthin sample	125	88.0%	32 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to MDW · Chicagothin sample	116	78.3%	38 min	0.86%	B+
HOU to STL · St. Louisthin sample	106	81.1%	36 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	104	73.2%	47 min	6.73%	C−
HOU to MAF · Midlandthin sample	104	89.4%	32 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	98	82.1%	43 min	3.06%	B−
HOU to OKC · Oklahoma Citythin sample	97	79.2%	54 min	1.03%	B
HOU to HRL · Harlingenthin sample	87	86.2%	31 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to SAT · San Antoniothin sample	84	71.4%	40 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	83	83.1%	41 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to TPA · Tampathin sample	83	83.1%	40 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	80	74.4%	54 min	2.50%	C
HOU to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample	77	89.6%	28 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to ELP · El Pasothin sample	75	90.5%	47 min	1.33%	A
HOU to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample	74	83.8%	28 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to CRP · Corpus Christithin sample	71	91.5%	53 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held HOU up in February

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 43% of the 29,000 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.

Late-arriving aircraft
43%
Carrier
36%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

43% 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 29,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 30 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 28,633 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.68%, below the national 2.25% 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.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 3.2% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.5% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

What to do with this

Flying from HOU in February

For a February trip through HOU: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.2% on time with 0.68% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular 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