Airport month record

MSPMAY

Minneapolis-St Paul International in May 2026

Departures: 10,400
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 10

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

MSP in May lands a B+, 5 points better than the national rate of 78.6%. About one flight in six 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 10,400 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 2,787 at 85.9% on time.

SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 85.9% on time across 2,787 flights.

On time

83.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,314 completed departures

Avg delay

73 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.54%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

79.1%

MSP across all twelve months

These figures cover 10,400 departures from Minneapolis-St Paul International in May 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

May next to MSP's other months

Against MSP's own year, May ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.1%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for MSP in May, at 0.54% against 1.37% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 83.9% on time and June 77.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse 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	9,608	77.2%	80 min	5.04%	B−
April 2026	9,639	83.9%	68 min	0.75%	B+
May 2026 (this page)	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 May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 16 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 flights92.3%
8am–11am2,178 flights87.6%
11am–2pm1,817 flights85.3%
2pm–5pm1,681 flights81.2%
5pm–8pm1,692 flights77.2%
8pm–5am1,637 flights76.7%

Scale runs 70% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.3% of the time, against 76.7% for the overnight window. That is 16 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 2,178 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 86.5% on time and Monday the weakest at 77.4%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at MSP in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 85.9% of the time; United Airlines manages 79.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 499 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at MSP in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Delta Air Lines	5,714	82.1%	61 min	0.58%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	2,787	85.9%	95 min	0.22%	A+
United Airlines	499	79.9%	82 min	0.20%	B+
Southwest Airlines	457	80.7%	56 min	0.00%	B+
American Airlinesthin sample	357	84.1%	127 min	2.24%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	138	91.9%	60 min	1.45%	A
PSA Airlinesthin sample	123	86.3%	58 min	3.25%	A−
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	113	73.2%	83 min	0.88%	C+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	107	98.1%	115 min	0.00%	A+
Republic Airwaysthin sample	105	95.2%	210 min	0.95%	A+

SkyWest leads United by 6 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of MSP in May

Routes from MSP in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
MSP to ORD · Chicago	572	80.4%	72 min	0.87%	B+
MSP to DEN · Denver	534	81.2%	64 min	0.37%	B+
MSP to ATL · Atlantathin sample	296	77.3%	61 min	0.34%	B+
MSP to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	277	75.8%	87 min	1.81%	B
MSP to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	234	83.9%	104 min	1.28%	B
MSP to SEA · Seattlethin sample	226	84.4%	65 min	0.88%	B+
MSP to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	224	84.0%	64 min	1.34%	B
MSP to CLT · Charlottethin sample	223	85.8%	61 min	0.45%	A+
MSP to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	209	85.2%	60 min	1.91%	A
MSP to EWR · Newarkthin sample	202	94.4%	132 min	1.49%	A
MSP to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	185	78.7%	71 min	1.08%	B
MSP to IAH · Houstonthin sample	181	87.7%	55 min	0.00%	A+
MSP to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	178	76.6%	104 min	1.69%	B
MSP to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	176	84.1%	68 min	0.00%	B+
MSP to STL · St. Louisthin sample	172	89.4%	55 min	0.00%	A+
MSP to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	171	81.7%	49 min	1.17%	B
MSP to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	169	43.0%	57 min	1.18%	F
MSP to MCO · Orlandothin sample	165	72.8%	82 min	1.82%	C
MSP to MKE · Milwaukeethin sample	162	92.5%	78 min	0.00%	A+
MSP to DTW · Detroitthin sample	156	87.2%	57 min	0.00%	A+
MSP to BOS · Bostonthin sample	155	87.7%	64 min	0.00%	A+
MSP to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	151	86.1%	33 min	0.00%	A+
MSP to MDW · Chicagothin sample	149	85.2%	41 min	0.00%	A+
MSP to FSD · Sioux Fallsthin sample	149	77.9%	109 min	0.00%	B+
MSP to AUS · Austinthin sample	144	81.2%	63 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held MSP up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 59% of the 125,000 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
59%
National Airspace System
19%
Late-arriving aircraft
15%
Extreme weather
7%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 59%, 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 73,000 of the 125,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 124,587 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.54%, below the national 0.92% 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.

6.0% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%. 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 May

For a May trip through MSP: expect 83.4% on time and 0.54% cancelled, going by May 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 March77.2%
MSP in April83.9%
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