New York, NY · departure reliability
JFK
John F. Kennedy International
- Departures
- 102,858
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Carriers
- 6
- US rank
- #22 by volume
New York
John F. Kennedy International sits in the middle of the pack with a B−. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 2 points worse than the national rate of 77.4%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 102,858 flights, of which American Airlines flew 14,636 at 79.0% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 79.0% on time across 14,636 flights.
Key figures
On time
75.1%
Departures arriving under 15 minutes late at their destination
Avg delay
75 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
3.09%
National rate is 1.80%
Best carrier
American
79.0% on time here
These figures cover 103,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.8% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines run best out of JFK
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 79.0% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 68.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,796 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 35,277 | 71.8% | 73 min | 3.19% | C− |
| Delta Air Lines | 30,747 | 77.6% | 73 min | 2.55% | B |
| Republic Airways | 15,252 | 77.2% | 72 min | 4.66% | B− |
| American Airlines | 14,636 | 79.0% | 95 min | 2.63% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 3,934 | 68.5% | 63 min | 2.77% | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,796 | 68.2% | 83 min | 2.29% | C |
Republic Airways cancels 4.7% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of JFK
Route-level records vary far more than the airport average. These are the 25 busiest departures from JFK, each with its own on-time rate against the airport-wide 75.1%.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JFK to LAX · Los Angeles | 10,337 | 78.1% | 79 min | 1.88% | B |
| JFK to SFO · San Francisco | 6,707 | 74.9% | 73 min | 1.95% | C |
| JFK to BOS · Boston | 5,761 | 73.2% | 78 min | 4.18% | C− |
| JFK to MCO · Orlando | 4,932 | 72.8% | 76 min | 2.96% | C |
| JFK to MIA · Miami | 4,607 | 75.7% | 89 min | 3.04% | B− |
| JFK to ATL · Atlanta | 4,292 | 75.9% | 78 min | 2.47% | B |
| JFK to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 3,896 | 71.5% | 69 min | 3.70% | C− |
| JFK to LAS · Las Vegas | 3,719 | 79.7% | 68 min | 2.26% | B |
| JFK to SJU · San Juan | 3,711 | 70.7% | 73 min | 2.64% | C |
| JFK to PHX · Phoenix | 2,919 | 78.0% | 77 min | 2.71% | B |
| JFK to SEA · Seattle | 2,906 | 67.8% | 58 min | 2.65% | C |
| JFK to DCA · Washington | 2,531 | 67.4% | 72 min | 5.57% | C− |
| JFK to SAN · San Diego | 2,413 | 79.1% | 57 min | 2.45% | B |
| JFK to RDU · Raleigh | 2,381 | 74.5% | 68 min | 5.25% | C− |
| JFK to TPA · Tampa | 2,309 | 76.7% | 76 min | 3.25% | B− |
| JFK to PBI · West Palm Beach | 2,198 | 72.7% | 73 min | 3.91% | C− |
| JFK to AUS · Austin | 2,127 | 81.5% | 85 min | 2.73% | B |
| JFK to CLT · Charlotte | 2,044 | 80.5% | 101 min | 2.79% | B |
| JFK to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 2,042 | 75.6% | 96 min | 2.60% | B |
| JFK to ORD · Chicago | 1,966 | 70.5% | 87 min | 4.88% | C− |
| JFK to SLC · Salt Lake City | 1,928 | 78.2% | 64 min | 1.82% | B |
| JFK to PIT · Pittsburgh | 1,764 | 74.7% | 77 min | 5.44% | C− |
| JFK to CMH · Columbus | 1,666 | 77.7% | 72 min | 3.78% | B− |
| JFK to DEN · Denver | 1,578 | 70.2% | 69 min | 2.53% | C |
| JFK to BNA · Nashville | 1,482 | 71.9% | 66 min | 4.39% | C− |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave JFK
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 21 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am15,767 flights85.5%
- 8am–11am19,070 flights81.6%
- 11am–2pm16,690 flights79.9%
- 2pm–5pm17,913 flights71.5%
- 5pm–8pm18,374 flights66.9%
- 8pm–5am15,044 flights64.8%
Scale runs 55% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 64.8% on time, against 85.5% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in.
Across the year
When JFK runs late
JFK's year swings by 17 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
December is the weak month at 65.6% on time, against 82.1% in May. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 79.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 69.1%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Delay causes
Why JFK gets delayed
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 1.86 million reported delay minutes.
- 36%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 28%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
36% 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 1.86 million reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 10 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 practical consequence: the 5am–8am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 85.5% on time here.
Cancellations run at 3.09%, against 1.80% nationally. That is about one flight in 30 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.8% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
102,858 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
What to do with this
Flying out of JFK
Put together: the delay figures matter less here than the 3.09% cancellation rate. A late arrival costs you a little over an hour; a cancelled flight costs you the day. Book the 5am–8am departure so there is still a schedule behind you if it goes wrong, and treat a same-day connection as optimistic.
Common questions
JFK delay questions
How often is New York (JFK) delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 24.9% of the 102,858 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on New York (JFK)?
American Airlines leads at 79.0% on time across 14,636 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 68.2%, a gap of 11 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on New York (JFK)?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 85.5% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 64.8%, 21 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on New York (JFK)?
December is the weakest month at 65.6% on time, compared with 82.1% in May. Across the year that is 17 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- JFK to LAX — Los Angeles78.1%
- JFK to SFO — San Francisco74.9%
- JFK to BOS — Boston73.2%
- JFK to MCO — Orlando72.8%
- JFK to MIA — Miami75.7%
- JetBlue Airways on-time record71.8%
- Delta Air Lines on-time record77.6%
- Republic Airways on-time record77.2%
- American Airlines on-time record79.0%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- What a cancellation rate actually tells you (and what it hides)
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.