Airport month record
ORDAUG
Chicago O'Hare International in August 2026
- Departures
- 33,187
- Month
- August 2026
- National, same month
- 73.1%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for August 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at ORD, see live FAA status.
ORD in August draws a D. About one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, and the typical late arrival is an hour and a half behind schedule. Build slack into anything you connect to. That rests on 33,187 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 2,672 at 72.2% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 72.2% on time across 2,672 flights.
Key figures
On time
64.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 32,283 completed departures
Avg delay
87 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.31%
Nationally in August: 1.86%
Whole year
70.8%
ORD across all twelve months
These figures cover 33,187 departures from Chicago O'Hare International in August 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
August next to ORD's other months
Against ORD's own year, August ran 6 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 70.8%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 28,867 | 79.2% | 68 min | 0.42% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 31,096 | 74.7% | 64 min | 0.23% | C+ |
| November 2025 | 28,703 | 73.3% | 82 min | 5.59% | C− |
| December 2025 | 27,790 | 61.0% | 91 min | 2.53% | D |
| January 2026 | 25,131 | 67.4% | 79 min | 3.74% | C− |
| February 2026 | 25,538 | 73.7% | 67 min | 1.11% | C |
| March 2026 | 31,373 | 65.9% | 85 min | 5.71% | C− |
| April 2026 | 33,206 | 69.7% | 75 min | 3.54% | C− |
| May 2026 | 33,733 | 76.1% | 73 min | 1.01% | B |
| June 2026 | 31,374 | 71.3% | 80 min | 3.19% | C− |
| July 2026 | 33,010 | 71.4% | 85 min | 4.18% | C− |
| August 2026 (this page) | 33,187 | 64.6% | 87 min | 2.31% | D |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave ORD in August
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 33 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am3,974 flights85.3%
- 8am–11am6,991 flights75.6%
- 11am–2pm5,083 flights66.9%
- 2pm–5pm6,327 flights56.7%
- 5pm–8pm5,535 flights52.5%
- 8pm–5am5,277 flights53.6%
Scale runs 45% to 90%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 52.5% on time, against 85.3% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 6,991 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 72.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 53.4%, a spread of 19 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at ORD in August
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 72.2% of the time; American Airlines manages 59.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 6,107 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 10,067 | 65.3% | 86 min | 1.16% | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 7,367 | 63.3% | 94 min | 3.09% | D− |
| American Airlines | 6,107 | 59.2% | 88 min | 2.11% | D |
| Envoy Air | 4,898 | 68.0% | 71 min | 2.78% | C |
| Republic Airways | 2,672 | 72.2% | 83 min | 3.41% | C− |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,142 | 65.9% | 113 min | 2.36% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 366 | 60.2% | 76 min | 1.64% | D |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 356 | 66.8% | 100 min | 2.81% | C |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 212 | 60.2% | 110 min | 9.91% | D− |
Republic Airways cancels 3.4% 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 ORD in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD to LGA · New York | 992 | 61.8% | 112 min | 5.75% | D− |
| ORD to BOS · Boston | 794 | 61.1% | 93 min | 2.02% | D |
| ORD to LAX · Los Angeles | 762 | 62.8% | 88 min | 0.66% | D+ |
| ORD to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 696 | 66.1% | 77 min | 1.44% | C |
| ORD to DCA · Washington | 647 | 62.0% | 99 min | 2.94% | D |
| ORD to ATL · Atlanta | 626 | 65.4% | 90 min | 1.60% | C |
| ORD to MSP · Minneapolis | 593 | 66.1% | 87 min | 2.19% | C |
| ORD to SEA · Seattle | 586 | 61.6% | 76 min | 1.02% | D |
| ORD to DEN · Denver | 578 | 65.0% | 90 min | 1.04% | C |
| ORD to DTW · Detroit | 559 | 69.7% | 96 min | 1.97% | C |
| ORD to IAH · Houston | 558 | 71.7% | 89 min | 1.08% | C |
| ORD to SFO · San Francisco | 556 | 59.2% | 72 min | 0.36% | D+ |
| ORD to EWR · Newark | 548 | 62.2% | 105 min | 4.74% | D− |
| ORD to PHL · Philadelphia | 512 | 61.1% | 102 min | 5.08% | D− |
| ORD to MKE · Milwaukee | 475 | 61.7% | 100 min | 3.37% | D− |
| ORD to CMH · Columbus | 465 | 65.5% | 79 min | 3.23% | C− |
| ORD to PHX · Phoenix | 461 | 64.2% | 94 min | 0.87% | D+ |
| ORD to CLE · Cleveland | 447 | 65.6% | 99 min | 1.12% | C |
| ORD to MCO · Orlando | 443 | 66.6% | 78 min | 1.35% | C |
| ORD to CLT · Charlotte | 433 | 70.2% | 71 min | 1.62% | C |
| ORD to BNA · Nashville | 430 | 65.6% | 102 min | 2.33% | C |
| ORD to IND · Indianapolis | 427 | 67.2% | 84 min | 3.51% | C− |
| ORD to CVG · Cincinnati | 425 | 64.2% | 83 min | 3.29% | D− |
| ORD to LAS · Las Vegas | 398 | 65.6% | 70 min | 1.51% | C |
| ORD to MCI · Kansas City | 397 | 62.3% | 92 min | 2.27% | D |
Delay causes
What held ORD up in August
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 996,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 22%Carrier
- 22%National Airspace System
- 8%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
48% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 996,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 6 to one. The split is drawn from 995,779 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.31% against a national 1.86%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.42%.
17.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.9% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from ORD in August
For a August trip through ORD: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 85.3% on time, and with 17.1% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- Chicago O'Hare International (ORD), the whole year
- ORD in September79.2%
- ORD in October74.7%
- ORD in November73.3%
- ORD in December61.0%
- ORD in January67.4%
- ORD in February73.7%
- ORD in March65.9%
- ORD in April69.7%
- ORD in May76.1%
- ORD in June71.3%
- ORD in July71.4%
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.