Airport month record

JFKAPR

John F. Kennedy International in April 2026

Departures: 8,254
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 6

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

JFK in April lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.8%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 8,254 flights, of which American Airlines flew 1,263 at 84.8% on time.

American Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 84.8% on time across 1,263 flights.

On time

81.6%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,213 completed departures

Avg delay

59 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.24%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

75.7%

JFK across all twelve months

These figures cover 8,254 departures from John F. Kennedy International 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 JFK's other months

Against JFK's own year, April ran 6 points better than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for JFK in April, at 0.24% against 3.06% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 76.4% on time and May 82.1%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

JFK month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	9,262	67.8%	91 min	6.23%	C−
August 2025	9,110	79.0%	75 min	0.92%	B+
September 2025	8,567	81.8%	74 min	0.74%	B+
October 2025	8,928	74.2%	69 min	1.46%	C
November 2025	8,626	75.8%	72 min	2.83%	B
December 2025	8,856	65.6%	76 min	4.02%	C−
January 2026	8,022	73.6%	69 min	7.12%	C−
February 2026	7,458	75.2%	74 min	8.76%	B−
March 2026	8,392	76.4%	75 min	2.10%	B
April 2026 (this page)	8,254	81.6%	59 min	0.24%	B+
May 2026	8,535	82.1%	73 min	1.08%	B
June 2026	8,750	75.0%	78 min	2.02%	B

Departure window

The best time of day to leave JFK in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 6 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,259 flights90.9%
8am–11am1,489 flights85.8%
11am–2pm1,345 flights86.1%
2pm–5pm1,414 flights78.8%
5pm–8pm1,477 flights75.9%
8pm–5am1,270 flights72.7%

Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.9% of the time, against 72.7% for the overnight window. That is 18 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 1,489 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 85.0% on time and Friday the weakest at 77.8%. 7 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at JFK in April

The four carriers here are closely matched: 6 points separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.

Carriers at JFK in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
JetBlue Airways	2,902	79.3%	56 min	0.00%	B+
Delta Air Lines	2,569	82.6%	51 min	0.58%	B+
American Airlines	1,263	84.8%	77 min	0.08%	B+
Republic Airways	1,079	82.2%	70 min	0.28%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	346	82.6%	53 min	0.29%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	95	72.6%	67 min	0.00%	C+

No carrier stands out. American tops the table at 84.8%, 6 points clear of the bottom, which is inside the range this kind of sample moves year to year.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of JFK in April

Routes from JFK in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
JFK to LAX · Los Angeles	855	80.8%	51 min	0.35%	B+
JFK to SFO · San Francisco	543	70.5%	54 min	0.00%	C+
JFK to MCO · Orlando	484	81.8%	54 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to BOS · Boston	443	80.4%	53 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to MIA · Miami	406	87.6%	85 min	0.25%	A+
JFK to FLL · Fort Lauderdale	380	77.8%	55 min	0.26%	B+
JFK to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	321	84.3%	53 min	0.31%	B+
JFK to ATL · Atlantathin sample	316	84.1%	58 min	0.32%	B+
JFK to SJU · San Juanthin sample	310	79.3%	48 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	278	85.9%	99 min	0.00%	A+
JFK to SEA · Seattlethin sample	225	80.8%	49 min	0.44%	B+
JFK to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample	219	74.7%	62 min	0.46%	C+
JFK to SAN · San Diegothin sample	206	85.4%	44 min	0.00%	A+
JFK to TPA · Tampathin sample	192	83.8%	48 min	0.52%	B+
JFK to AUS · Austinthin sample	180	88.9%	85 min	0.00%	A+
JFK to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	162	84.0%	53 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to RDU · Raleighthin sample	156	84.0%	54 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	156	71.2%	67 min	0.00%	C+
JFK to CLT · Charlottethin sample	149	85.9%	80 min	0.00%	A+
JFK to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	143	80.7%	62 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to ORD · Chicagothin sample	140	80.0%	91 min	2.86%	B
JFK to CMH · Columbusthin sample	130	81.5%	71 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	126	79.5%	58 min	2.38%	B
JFK to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample	121	82.6%	71 min	0.00%	B+
JFK to DEN · Denverthin sample	118	75.4%	42 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held JFK 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 89,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
36%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
32%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

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 89,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 36 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 88,734 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.24%, 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.

5.2% 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 an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from JFK in April

For a April trip through JFK: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 81.6% on time with 0.24% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

John F. Kennedy International (JFK), the whole year
JFK in July67.8%
JFK in August79.0%
JFK in September81.8%
JFK in October74.2%
JFK in November75.8%
JFK in December65.6%
JFK in January73.6%
JFK in February75.2%
JFK in March76.4%
JFK in May82.1%
JFK in June75.0%

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