Airport month record

MSPMAR

Minneapolis-St Paul International in March 2026

Departures: 9,608
Month: March 2026
National, same month: 75.7%
Carriers: 10

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

MSP in March carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 5.0% of scheduled flights never operate, against 2.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 9,608 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 5,083 at 79.5% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 79.5% on time across 5,083 flights.

On time

77.2%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,097 completed departures

Avg delay

80 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

5.04%

Nationally in March: 2.90%

Whole year

79.1%

MSP across all twelve months

These figures cover 9,608 departures from Minneapolis-St Paul International in March 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

March next to MSP's other months

Against MSP's own year, March ran 2 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.1%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where March stands out: 5.04% of scheduled departures were called off, 3.7 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, February ran 80.4% on time and April 83.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.

MSP month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	10,565	74.1%	77 min	0.89%	C+
August 2025	10,305	81.5%	68 min	0.47%	B+
September 2025	9,559	85.6%	59 min	0.10%	A+
October 2025	9,657	84.7%	60 min	0.22%	B+
November 2025	8,806	82.1%	75 min	2.16%	B
December 2025	8,854	63.1%	78 min	2.28%	D
January 2026	8,055	72.9%	74 min	2.41%	C
February 2026	7,923	80.4%	69 min	1.12%	B
March 2026 (this page)	9,608	77.2%	80 min	5.04%	B−
April 2026	9,639	83.9%	68 min	0.75%	B+
May 2026	10,400	83.4%	73 min	0.54%	B+
June 2026	10,491	77.9%	67 min	0.92%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave MSP in March

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–8am1,395 flights84.8%
8am–11am1,998 flights81.5%
11am–2pm1,553 flights82.3%
2pm–5pm1,559 flights74.4%
5pm–8pm1,602 flights66.4%
8pm–5am1,501 flights74.0%

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 84.8% of the time, against 66.4% for the evening 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 1,998 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Sunday is the strongest day at 83.1% on time and Saturday the weakest at 72.5%. 11 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MSP in March

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 79.5% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 73.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,648 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MSP in March 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Delta Air Lines	5,083	79.5%	63 min	4.60%	B−
SkyWest Airlines	2,648	73.3%	101 min	5.59%	C−
Southwest Airlines	479	73.4%	61 min	3.55%	C−
United Airlines	376	75.8%	100 min	4.26%	B−
American Airlinesthin sample	362	82.4%	135 min	4.97%	B−
Republic Airwaysthin sample	212	77.8%	61 min	8.02%	B−
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	173	76.2%	105 min	5.20%	B−
Envoy Airthin sample	111	78.0%	75 min	9.91%	B−
PSA Airlinesthin sample	89	77.2%	202 min	11.24%	B−
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	75	70.4%	43 min	5.33%	C−

SkyWest Airlines cancels 5.6% 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 MSP in March

Routes from MSP in March 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MSP to ORD · Chicago	535	68.9%	95 min	7.85%	C−
MSP to DEN · Denver	462	78.3%	66 min	3.03%	B−
MSP to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	337	84.5%	88 min	4.45%	B−
MSP to ATL · Atlantathin sample	296	84.5%	78 min	3.72%	B−
MSP to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	292	85.3%	130 min	5.48%	A−
MSP to MCO · Orlandothin sample	237	74.7%	70 min	6.33%	C−
MSP to MDW · Chicagothin sample	226	70.8%	64 min	4.42%	C−
MSP to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	221	71.7%	93 min	5.88%	C−
MSP to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	215	87.4%	54 min	4.19%	A−
MSP to CLT · Charlottethin sample	207	79.3%	82 min	3.86%	B−
MSP to SEA · Seattlethin sample	200	66.7%	55 min	6.00%	C−
MSP to STL · St. Louisthin sample	186	75.4%	94 min	3.76%	B−
MSP to EWR · Newarkthin sample	180	77.1%	64 min	5.56%	B−
MSP to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	169	88.3%	50 min	3.55%	A−
MSP to IAH · Houstonthin sample	166	82.1%	93 min	5.42%	B−
MSP to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	158	75.8%	95 min	5.70%	B−
MSP to DTW · Detroitthin sample	156	78.7%	56 min	3.21%	B−
MSP to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	151	70.5%	64 min	7.95%	C−
MSP to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	151	79.0%	98 min	8.61%	B−
MSP to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	149	73.6%	47 min	3.36%	C−
MSP to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	146	75.5%	42 min	2.05%	B
MSP to AUS · Austinthin sample	145	82.1%	66 min	3.45%	B−
MSP to FSD · Sioux Fallsthin sample	145	69.3%	84 min	3.45%	C−
MSP to BOS · Bostonthin sample	144	83.9%	72 min	4.86%	B−
MSP to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	142	83.2%	46 min	3.52%	B−

Delay causes

What held MSP up in March

One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 57% of the 166,000 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.

Carrier
57%
National Airspace System
21%
Late-arriving aircraft
14%
Extreme weather
8%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 57%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 95,000 of the 166,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 166,443 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations run at 5.04%, against 2.90% nationally. That is about one flight in twenty 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.

8.9% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 9.5%. 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 MSP in March

For a March trip through MSP: expect 77.2% on time and 5.04% cancelled, going by March 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Minneapolis-St Paul International (MSP), the whole year
MSP in July74.1%
MSP in August81.5%
MSP in September85.6%
MSP in October84.7%
MSP in November82.1%
MSP in December63.1%
MSP in January72.9%
MSP in February80.4%
MSP in April83.9%
MSP in May83.4%
MSP in June77.9%

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