Airport month record
PBIMAY
Palm Beach International in May 2026
- Departures
- 2,545
- Month
- May 2026
- National, same month
- 78.6%
- Carriers
- 6
Historical statistics for May 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s May. For today’s conditions at PBI, see live FAA status.
PBI 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 rests on 2,545 flights, of which American Airlines flew 547 at 83.4% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 83.4% on time across 547 flights.
Key figures
On time
83.1%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,515 completed departures
Avg delay
79 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.98%
Nationally in May: 0.92%
Whole year
75.1%
PBI across all twelve months
These figures cover 2,545 departures from Palm Beach 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 PBI's other months
Against PBI's own year, May ran 8 points better than the twelve-month rate of 75.1%, which makes it the best of the eleven months in the data. Cancellations were unusually low for PBI in May, at 0.98% against 2.64% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 71.3% on time and June 79.1%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| 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 | 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 (this page) | 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 May
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 22 points, against about a point between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am420 flights95.0%
- 8am–11am400 flights89.6%
- 11am–2pm582 flights88.2%
- 2pm–5pm460 flights73.2%
- 5pm–8pm524 flights73.5%
- 8pm–5am159 flights77.6%
Scale runs 65% to 100%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 95.0% of the time, against 73.2% for the afternoon window. That is 22 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 582 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 86.6% on time and Wednesday the weakest at 78.9%, a spread of 8 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PBI in May
The three carriers here are closely matched: about a point separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 707 | 82.5% | 66 min | 0.28% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 621 | 82.3% | 78 min | 2.09% | B |
| American Airlines | 547 | 83.4% | 112 min | 0.91% | B+ |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 349 | 87.3% | 84 min | 0.86% | A+ |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 241 | 82.9% | 50 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 31 | 71.0% | 78 min | 0.00% | C+ |
No carrier stands out. American tops the table at 83.4%, about a point clear of the bottom, which is inside the range this kind of sample moves year to year.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of PBI in May
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PBI to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 341 | 86.5% | 60 min | 2.05% | A |
| PBI to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 291 | 89.9% | 84 min | 1.03% | A |
| PBI to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 285 | 76.9% | 61 min | 1.75% | B |
| PBI to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 178 | 77.3% | 60 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| PBI to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 172 | 87.8% | 68 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PBI to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 162 | 78.8% | 132 min | 1.23% | B |
| PBI to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 143 | 81.8% | 162 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PBI to HPN · White Plainsthin sample | 131 | 80.9% | 69 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PBI to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 131 | 88.4% | 79 min | 1.53% | A |
| PBI to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 118 | 86.3% | 37 min | 0.85% | A+ |
| PBI to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 105 | 72.8% | 77 min | 1.90% | C |
| PBI to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 92 | 75.8% | 145 min | 1.09% | B |
| PBI to ISP · Islipthin sample | 82 | 89.0% | 88 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PBI to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 57 | 86.0% | 45 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PBI to BDL · Hartfordthin sample | 52 | 86.5% | 34 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PBI to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 49 | 83.7% | 58 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PBI to PVD · Providencethin sample | 44 | 90.9% | 74 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PBI to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 31 | 90.0% | 24 min | 3.23% | A− |
| PBI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 31 | 61.3% | 43 min | 0.00% | D+ |
Delay causes
What held PBI up in May
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 33,000 reported delay minutes.
- 40%Late-arriving aircraft
- 37%Carrier
- 21%National Airspace System
- 1%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
40% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 33,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 28 to one. The split is drawn from 33,381 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 0.98% against a national 0.92%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.20%.
6.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%, so 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 PBI in May
For a May trip through PBI: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 83.1% on time with 0.98% 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
- 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 January74.7%
- PBI in February73.8%
- PBI in March69.1%
- PBI in April71.3%
- 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.