Airport month record
MEMSEP
Memphis International in September 2025
- Departures
- 2,059
- Month
- September 2025
- National, same month
- 83.4%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for September 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s September. For today’s conditions at MEM, see live FAA status.
MEM in September earns an A+. Close to nine flights in ten arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 4 points better than the national rate of 83.4%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 2,059 flights, with a median arrival 10 minutes early.
Set against the rest of the country, MEM's September record is 4 points better than the US average of 83.4%. That gap is worth roughly 41 fewer late arrivals for every thousand flights.
Key figures
On time
87.5%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,052 completed departures
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.19%
Nationally in September: 0.51%
Whole year
80.0%
MEM across all twelve months
These figures cover 2,059 departures from Memphis International in September 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
September next to MEM's other months
Against MEM's own year, September ran 8 points better than the twelve-month rate of 80.0%, which makes it the best of the twelve months in the data. Cancellations were unusually low for MEM in September, at 0.19% against 2.27% across the year.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 (this page) | 2,059 | 87.5% | 68 min | 0.19% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 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 September
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 12 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am673 flights91.2%
- 8am–11am292 flights92.1%
- 11am–2pm358 flights86.8%
- 2pm–5pm370 flights84.8%
- 5pm–8pm335 flights80.2%
- 8pm–5am31 flights83.9%
Scale runs 70% to 100%.
Book the morning departure. Flights leaving between 8am–11am arrive on time 92.1% of the time, against 80.2% for the evening window. That is 12 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 673 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 90.2% on time and Friday the weakest at 85.3%, a spread of 5 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MEM in September
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.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 345 | 91.0% | 61 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 328 | 89.2% | 64 min | 0.91% | A+ |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 320 | 94.7% | 68 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 303 | 85.8% | 42 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 275 | 81.4% | 68 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 136 | 83.7% | 106 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 123 | 81.3% | 83 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 110 | 86.2% | 94 min | 0.91% | A+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 82 | 86.6% | 75 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MEM in September
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEM to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 269 | 94.8% | 71 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 217 | 83.6% | 113 min | 1.38% | B |
| MEM to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 187 | 85.0% | 79 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 128 | 93.8% | 27 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 115 | 78.1% | 56 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MEM to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 105 | 91.4% | 79 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to DEN · Denverthin sample | 102 | 77.5% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MEM to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 100 | 94.0% | 39 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 86 | 83.5% | 101 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MEM to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 81 | 88.9% | 68 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 70 | 88.6% | 28 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 69 | 89.9% | 26 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 67 | 86.6% | 65 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 57 | 82.5% | 38 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MEM to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 56 | 76.8% | 63 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MEM to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 56 | 92.9% | 57 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 38 | 86.8% | 58 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 37 | 85.7% | 67 min | 2.70% | A |
| MEM to MIA · Miamithin sample | 32 | 93.8% | 39 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 30 | 96.7% | 108 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 30 | 93.3% | 125 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MEM to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 30 | 83.3% | 20 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MEM to AUS · Austinthin sample | 30 | 100.0% | — | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held MEM up in September
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 17,000 reported delay minutes.
- 42%Carrier
- 29%National Airspace System
- 23%Late-arriving aircraft
- 6%Extreme weather
The largest share of delay minutes, 42%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 7,283 of the 17,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 17,420 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.19%, below the national 0.51% 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.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.3% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 5.4% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.
What to do with this
Flying from MEM in September
For a September trip through MEM: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 87.5% on time with 0.19% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Memphis International (MEM), the whole year
- MEM in October82.8%
- 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 ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.