Airport month record

MEMOCT

Memphis International in October 2025

Departures: 2,283
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 10

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

MEM in October lands a B+, 3 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 2,283 flights, of which American Airlines flew 368 at 83.3% on time.

On time

82.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,267 completed departures

Avg delay

64 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.48%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

80.0%

MEM across all twelve months

These figures cover 2,283 departures from Memphis International 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 MEM's other months

Against MEM's own year, October ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 80.0%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for MEM in October, at 0.48% against 2.27% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 87.5% on time and November 80.0%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

MEM month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
September 2025	2,059	87.5%	68 min	0.19%	A+
October 2025 (this page)	2,283	82.8%	64 min	0.48%	B+
November 2025	1,991	80.0%	74 min	1.96%	B
December 2025	1,956	77.7%	83 min	1.48%	B
January 2026	1,727	79.7%	97 min	9.50%	B−
February 2026	1,609	85.3%	73 min	1.74%	A
March 2026	2,053	77.1%	100 min	3.60%	B−
April 2026	2,146	82.1%	84 min	0.98%	B+
May 2026	2,228	79.8%	85 min	1.08%	B
June 2026	2,221	76.4%	88 min	2.34%	B
July 2026	2,259	74.1%	74 min	3.01%	C−
August 2026	2,105	78.7%	89 min	2.14%	B

Departure window

The best time of day to leave MEM in October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 17 points, against 4 points between the best and worst carrier.

5am–8am728 flights91.0%
8am–11am368 flights85.8%
11am–2pm327 flights80.4%
2pm–5pm471 flights77.3%
5pm–8pm360 flights74.2%
8pm–5am29 flights—

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 91.0% of the time, against 74.2% for the evening 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 728 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Friday is the strongest day at 86.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 78.0%, a spread of 8 points.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MEM in October

The two carriers here are closely matched: 4 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 MEM in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	377	79.2%	51 min	0.27%	B+
American Airlines	368	83.3%	86 min	0.82%	B+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	363	91.5%	76 min	0.00%	A+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	332	89.1%	41 min	0.00%	A+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	245	74.7%	66 min	0.82%	C+
Envoy Airthin sample	183	74.0%	59 min	1.09%	C
PSA Airlinesthin sample	161	82.3%	54 min	1.24%	B
United Airlinesthin sample	124	84.6%	37 min	0.81%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	72	91.7%	82 min	0.00%	A+
Allegiant Airthin sample	45	57.8%	75 min	0.00%	D+

No carrier stands out. American tops the table at 83.3%, 4 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 MEM in October

Routes from MEM in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MEM to ATL · Atlantathin sample	284	90.8%	85 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	243	76.1%	79 min	2.06%	B
MEM to ORD · Chicagothin sample	201	83.0%	45 min	0.50%	B+
MEM to CLT · Charlottethin sample	151	90.7%	89 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	116	78.1%	57 min	0.00%	B+
MEM to DTW · Detroitthin sample	115	91.2%	54 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to DEN · Denverthin sample	105	79.0%	76 min	0.00%	B+
MEM to IAH · Houstonthin sample	93	77.4%	41 min	0.00%	B+
MEM to MCO · Orlandothin sample	92	76.9%	74 min	1.09%	B
MEM to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	90	67.0%	58 min	1.11%	C
MEM to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	88	94.3%	32 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	85	84.3%	58 min	2.35%	B
MEM to HOU · Houstonthin sample	78	85.9%	34 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	69	78.3%	46 min	0.00%	B+
MEM to EWR · Newarkthin sample	58	71.9%	90 min	1.72%	C
MEM to MDW · Chicagothin sample	58	94.8%	27 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	49	77.6%	55 min	0.00%	B+
MEM to MIA · Miamithin sample	48	83.3%	93 min	0.00%	B+
MEM to DAL · Dallasthin sample	35	79.4%	63 min	0.00%	B+
MEM to AUS · Austinthin sample	31	96.8%	22 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	31	74.2%	59 min	0.00%	C+
MEM to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	31	93.5%	17 min	0.00%	A+
MEM to BOS · Bostonthin sample	30	86.7%	19 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held MEM up in October

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 25,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
37%
Carrier
35%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
8%
Security
0%

37% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 25,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 5 to one. The split is drawn from 24,975 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.48%, 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.

5.0% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%, so 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 MEM in October

For a October trip through MEM: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 82.8% on time with 0.48% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Memphis International (MEM), the whole year
MEM in September87.5%
MEM in November80.0%
MEM in December77.7%
MEM in January79.7%
MEM in February85.3%
MEM in March77.1%
MEM in April82.1%
MEM in May79.8%
MEM in June76.4%
MEM in July74.1%
MEM in August78.7%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated 22 October 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures