Airport month record

HOUOCT

William P. Hobby in October 2025

Departures: 4,887
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 4

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

HOU in October lands a B+, 2 points worse than the national rate of 79.7%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about 50 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 4,887 flights, with a median arrival 1 minute early.

On time

78.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,874 completed departures

Avg delay

50 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.23%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

76.9%

HOU across all twelve months

These figures cover 4,887 departures from William P. Hobby 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 HOU's other months

Against HOU's own year, October ran about a point better than the twelve-month rate of 76.9%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for HOU in October, at 0.23% against 0.84% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 86.1% on time and November 80.1%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page)	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	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 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–8am535 flights91.6%
8am–11am1,129 flights89.5%
11am–2pm794 flights77.7%
2pm–5pm736 flights77.1%
5pm–8pm838 flights65.4%
8pm–5am855 flights67.9%

Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.6% of the time, against 65.4% for the evening window. That is 26 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 1,129 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 85.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 71.4%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at HOU in October

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 October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	4,550	77.6%	49 min	0.20%	B+
Envoy Airthin sample	152	88.8%	60 min	0.00%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	124	85.4%	112 min	0.81%	A+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	43	64.3%	72 min	2.33%	D

Route by route

Busiest routes out of HOU in October

Routes from HOU in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
HOU to DAL · Dallasthin sample	353	80.1%	52 min	1.42%	B
HOU to ATL · Atlantathin sample	256	84.7%	78 min	0.39%	B+
HOU to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	205	85.4%	55 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to DEN · Denverthin sample	198	75.6%	45 min	0.51%	B+
HOU to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	195	83.5%	66 min	0.51%	B+
HOU to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	192	68.8%	50 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	192	72.4%	50 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to MCO · Orlandothin sample	175	79.4%	56 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	154	76.0%	53 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to MDW · Chicagothin sample	154	79.2%	31 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to AUS · Austinthin sample	144	76.4%	42 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to SAT · San Antoniothin sample	140	84.3%	56 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	130	70.8%	34 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to STL · St. Louisthin sample	123	78.9%	39 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to HRL · Harlingenthin sample	119	72.3%	36 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to OKC · Oklahoma Citythin sample	118	79.7%	49 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	112	60.6%	70 min	1.79%	D
HOU to MAF · Midlandthin sample	110	82.7%	61 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	109	71.6%	39 min	0.00%	C+
HOU to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample	91	86.8%	46 min	0.00%	A+
HOU to ELP · El Pasothin sample	91	80.2%	38 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to SAN · San Diegothin sample	87	77.9%	40 min	1.15%	B
HOU to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample	87	78.2%	42 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to CRP · Corpus Christithin sample	87	80.5%	53 min	0.00%	B+
HOU to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	85	54.1%	64 min	0.00%	F+

Delay causes

What held HOU up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 43% of the 54,000 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
40%
National Airspace System
15%
Extreme weather
2%
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 54,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 24 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 53,955 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.23%, 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.

5.5% 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 50 minutes, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from HOU in October

For a October trip through HOU: expect 78.0% on time and 0.23% cancelled, going by October 2025. 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