Airport month record
PBIJAN
Palm Beach International in January 2026
- Departures
- 3,108
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 8
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at PBI, see live FAA status.
PBI in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 5.5% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 3,108 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 653 at 78.6% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 78.6% on time across 653 flights.
Key figures
On time
74.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,932 completed departures
Avg delay
79 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
5.50%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
75.1%
PBI across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,108 departures from Palm Beach International in January 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
January next to PBI's other months
Against PBI's own year, January ran level with the twelve-month rate of 75.1%, which makes it number six of eleven months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 5.50% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.1 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 71.7% on time and February 73.8%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 1,818 | 82.2% | 74 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 2,268 | 78.1% | 78 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 2,792 | 76.8% | 89 min | 2.11% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,186 | 71.7% | 79 min | 1.95% | C |
| January 2026 (this page) | 3,108 | 74.7% | 79 min | 5.50% | C− |
| February 2026 | 2,973 | 73.8% | 78 min | 4.78% | C− |
| March 2026 | 3,385 | 69.1% | 79 min | 3.49% | C− |
| April 2026 | 3,067 | 71.3% | 75 min | 0.62% | C+ |
| May 2026 | 2,545 | 83.1% | 79 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 2,154 | 79.1% | 90 min | 1.81% | B |
| July 2026 | 2,102 | 71.8% | 101 min | 5.33% | C− |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave PBI in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 33 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am502 flights93.6%
- 8am–11am507 flights82.9%
- 11am–2pm651 flights75.9%
- 2pm–5pm567 flights62.2%
- 5pm–8pm663 flights68.2%
- 8pm–5am218 flights61.0%
Scale runs 55% to 100%.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 61.0% on time, against 93.6% 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 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 663 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 83.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 62.0%, a spread of 21 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PBI in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 78.6% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 68.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 922 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 922 | 68.5% | 77 min | 6.51% | C− |
| Delta Air Lines | 653 | 78.6% | 77 min | 4.59% | B− |
| American Airlines | 639 | 77.8% | 104 min | 8.14% | B− |
| United Airlines | 496 | 77.8% | 59 min | 2.82% | B |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 247 | 78.8% | 47 min | 2.43% | B |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 55 | 68.0% | 78 min | 9.09% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 51 | 60.0% | 126 min | 1.96% | D |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 45 | 66.7% | 78 min | 6.67% | C− |
American Airlines cancels 8.1% 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 PBI in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PBI to EWR · Newark | 368 | 75.6% | 70 min | 4.35% | B− |
| PBI to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 339 | 70.2% | 75 min | 7.08% | C− |
| PBI to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 317 | 85.6% | 89 min | 3.15% | A− |
| PBI to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 219 | 68.5% | 86 min | 7.31% | C− |
| PBI to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 211 | 71.3% | 78 min | 7.11% | C− |
| PBI to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 206 | 66.1% | 100 min | 6.80% | C− |
| PBI to HPN · White Plainsthin sample | 173 | 71.2% | 72 min | 6.36% | C− |
| PBI to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 161 | 84.7% | 135 min | 9.94% | B− |
| PBI to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 149 | 74.3% | 131 min | 6.04% | C− |
| PBI to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 136 | 67.2% | 58 min | 1.47% | C |
| PBI to ISP · Islipthin sample | 130 | 70.2% | 44 min | 4.62% | C− |
| PBI to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 97 | 82.6% | 97 min | 11.34% | B− |
| PBI to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 97 | 85.1% | 59 min | 3.09% | A− |
| PBI to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 60 | 85.0% | 74 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PBI to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 58 | 69.0% | 52 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| PBI to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 56 | 92.7% | 46 min | 1.79% | A |
| PBI to DEN · Denverthin sample | 55 | 83.6% | 50 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PBI to BDL · Hartfordthin sample | 46 | 65.9% | 59 min | 10.87% | C− |
| PBI to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 36 | 77.1% | 37 min | 2.78% | B |
| PBI to PVD · Providencethin sample | 31 | 75.9% | 69 min | 6.45% | B− |
| PBI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 31 | 76.7% | 20 min | 3.23% | B− |
| PBI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 31 | 70.0% | 110 min | 3.23% | C− |
| PBI to ACY · Atlantic Citythin sample | 30 | 73.1% | 93 min | 13.33% | C− |
Delay causes
What held PBI up in January
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 51% of the 58,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 51%Late-arriving aircraft
- 30%Carrier
- 16%National Airspace System
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
51% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 58,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 25 to one. The split is drawn from 58,271 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 5.50%, against 4.71% nationally. That is roughly 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.
10.7% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% 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 PBI in January
For a January trip through PBI: expect 74.7% on time and 5.50% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Palm Beach International (PBI), the whole year
- PBI in September82.2%
- PBI in October78.1%
- PBI in November76.8%
- PBI in December71.7%
- PBI in February73.8%
- PBI in March69.1%
- PBI in April71.3%
- PBI in May83.1%
- PBI in June79.1%
- PBI in July71.8%
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.