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DelayAtlas

Airport month record

JFKAUG

John F. Kennedy International in August 2025

Departures
9,110
Month
August 2025
National, same month
77.4%
Carriers
7
B+GRADE

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

JFK in August lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 9,110 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 1,361 at 86.4% on time.

Republic Airways is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 86.4% on time across 1,361 flights.

Key figures

On time

79.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,997 completed departures

Avg delay

75 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.92%

Nationally in August: 1.08%

Whole year

75.7%

JFK across all twelve months

These figures cover 9,110 departures from John F. Kennedy International in August 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

August next to JFK's other months

Against JFK's own year, August ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for JFK in August, at 0.92% against 3.06% across the year. Either side of it, July ran 67.8% on time and September 81.8%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

JFK month by month
MonthFlightsOn timeAvg delayCancelledGrade
July 20259,26267.8%91 min6.23%C−
August 2025 (this page)9,11079.0%75 min0.92%B+
September 20258,56781.8%74 min0.74%B+
October 20258,92874.2%69 min1.46%C
November 20258,62675.8%72 min2.83%B
December 20258,85665.6%76 min4.02%C−
January 20268,02273.6%69 min7.12%C−
February 20267,45875.2%74 min8.76%B−
March 20268,39276.4%75 min2.10%B
April 20268,25481.6%59 min0.24%B+
May 20268,53582.1%73 min1.08%B
June 20268,75075.0%78 min2.02%B

Departure window

The best time of day to leave JFK in August

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 17 points, against 14 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

  • 5am–8am1,353 flights86.5%
  • 8am–11am1,605 flights85.9%
  • 11am–2pm1,439 flights82.0%
  • 2pm–5pm1,597 flights77.8%
  • 5pm–8pm1,558 flights73.1%
  • 8pm–5am1,558 flights69.5%

Scale runs 60% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 86.5% of the time, against 69.5% for the overnight window. That is 17 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 1,605 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 91.4% on time and Thursday the weakest at 73.6%. 18 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

On-time rate by day of the week85.2Mon91.4Tue75.3Wed73.6Thu78.1Fri74.1Sat77.1Sun
Monday: 85.2 percent on time. Tuesday: 91.4 percent on time. Wednesday: 75.3 percent on time. Thursday: 73.6 percent on time. Friday: 78.1 percent on time. Saturday: 74.1 percent on time. Sunday: 77.1 percent on time

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at JFK in August

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 86.4% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 72.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,292 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at JFK in August 2025
AirlineFlightsOn timeAvg delayCancelledGrade
JetBlue Airways3,29272.8%74 min0.82%C+
Delta Air Lines2,65484.6%83 min0.83%B+
Republic Airways1,36186.4%63 min1.62%A
American Airlines1,13481.8%87 min0.79%B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample32967.5%61 min0.91%C+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample30966.9%59 min0.32%C+
Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample3174.2%55 min0.00%C+

The spread between Republic and JetBlue is 14 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 14 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of JFK in August

Routes from JFK in August 2025
RouteFlightsOn timeAvg delayCancelledGrade
JFK to LAX · Los Angeles91284.7%90 min0.11%B+
JFK to SFO · San Francisco59184.4%78 min0.17%B+
JFK to BOS · Boston50080.8%80 min1.00%B
JFK to MCO · Orlando43469.6%73 min1.38%C
JFK to ATL · Atlanta37578.1%74 min0.53%B+
JFK to MIA · Miami37575.3%97 min1.33%B
JFK to SJU · San Juanthin sample35963.4%74 min0.84%D+
JFK to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample31487.2%71 min0.32%A+
JFK to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample29373.6%88 min1.02%C
JFK to SEA · Seattlethin sample27873.9%59 min0.72%C+
JFK to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample21776.8%68 min1.38%B
JFK to DCA · Washingtonthin sample21779.7%76 min2.30%B
JFK to SAN · San Diegothin sample21183.3%76 min0.47%B+
JFK to TPA · Tampathin sample20874.0%70 min0.48%C+
JFK to PHX · Phoenixthin sample20385.5%46 min1.48%A
JFK to RDU · Raleighthin sample20184.8%57 min1.49%B
JFK to AUS · Austinthin sample17683.3%94 min1.14%B
JFK to CLT · Charlottethin sample15883.5%72 min0.00%B+
JFK to ORD · Chicagothin sample15581.8%82 min3.87%B−
JFK to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample15582.1%61 min2.58%B
JFK to CMH · Columbusthin sample15584.3%83 min1.29%B
JFK to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample15571.5%79 min2.58%C
JFK to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample15487.7%67 min0.00%A+
JFK to DEN · Denverthin sample15474.3%65 min1.30%C
JFK to DTW · Detroitthin sample12475.6%95 min0.81%B+

Delay causes

What held JFK up in August

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 42% of the 141,000 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
    42%
  • Carrier
    34%
  • National Airspace System
    20%
  • Extreme weather
    3%
  • Security
    0%

42% 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 141,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 13 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 141,077 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 0.92% against a national 1.08%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.32%.

8.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. 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 a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from JFK in August

For a August trip through JFK: expect 79.0% on time and 0.92% cancelled, going by August 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Related

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.