Airport month record

PDXAPR

Portland International in April 2026

Departures: 5,040
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 7

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

PDX in April earns an A+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 6 points better than the national rate of 79.8%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 5,040 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 578 at 90.5% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 90.5% on time across 578 flights.

On time

86.1%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 5,003 completed departures

Avg delay

63 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.48%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

82.6%

PDX across all twelve months

These figures cover 5,040 departures from Portland International in April 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

April next to PDX's other months

Against PDX's own year, April ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 82.6%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, March ran 86.3% on time and May 83.9%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

PDX month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	5,864	75.7%	65 min	1.18%	B
August 2025	5,685	80.9%	60 min	0.67%	B+
September 2025	5,269	83.7%	51 min	0.17%	B+
October 2025	5,493	82.1%	53 min	0.64%	B+
November 2025	4,976	84.2%	59 min	1.51%	B
December 2025	5,124	79.3%	59 min	0.60%	B+
January 2026	4,537	85.6%	66 min	1.41%	A
February 2026	4,182	86.3%	56 min	0.69%	A+
March 2026	5,113	86.3%	69 min	0.94%	A+
April 2026 (this page)	5,040	86.1%	63 min	0.48%	A+
May 2026	5,535	83.9%	62 min	0.42%	B+
June 2026	6,024	80.3%	65 min	0.61%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave PDX in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 10 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,350 flights90.3%
8am–11am875 flights89.8%
11am–2pm575 flights80.2%
2pm–5pm805 flights83.2%
5pm–8pm756 flights82.0%
8pm–5am679 flights86.0%

Scale runs 70% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The weak window here is the middle of the day, not the evening: 11am–2pm runs 80.2% on time against 90.3% for 5am–8am. That shape usually means a departure bank rather than an accumulating delay, so the recovery later in the afternoon is real rather than noise. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,350 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 89.6% on time and Thursday the weakest at 83.1%. 7 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at PDX in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.5% of the time; United Airlines manages 75.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 500 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at PDX in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Alaska Airlines	1,976	89.5%	48 min	0.40%	A+
SkyWest Airlines	897	89.6%	105 min	0.33%	A+
Southwest Airlines	669	78.1%	40 min	0.15%	B+
Delta Air Lines	578	90.5%	72 min	1.04%	A
United Airlines	500	75.8%	78 min	0.60%	B+
American Airlinesthin sample	364	82.7%	66 min	0.82%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	47	80.9%	70 min	0.00%	B+

The spread between Delta and United is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of PDX in April

Routes from PDX in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PDX to SEA · Seattle	372	89.8%	74 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	346	86.6%	128 min	0.58%	A+
PDX to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	338	86.4%	65 min	0.30%	A+
PDX to DEN · Denverthin sample	303	88.1%	53 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	300	57.4%	59 min	0.33%	D+
PDX to ORD · Chicagothin sample	242	73.6%	78 min	1.65%	C
PDX to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	239	80.6%	48 min	0.42%	B+
PDX to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	193	83.7%	63 min	1.04%	B
PDX to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	186	92.9%	51 min	1.08%	A
PDX to SAN · San Diegothin sample	165	90.2%	29 min	1.21%	A
PDX to SMF · Sacramentothin sample	158	87.3%	58 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	120	95.7%	25 min	2.50%	A
PDX to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	117	95.7%	27 min	0.85%	A+
PDX to SJC · San Josethin sample	116	86.1%	47 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to ATL · Atlantathin sample	116	88.7%	48 min	0.86%	A+
PDX to ANC · Anchoragethin sample	93	90.3%	69 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to IAH · Houstonthin sample	91	92.2%	58 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to OAK · Oaklandthin sample	89	77.5%	45 min	0.00%	B+
PDX to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample	89	88.6%	34 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	73	84.9%	68 min	0.00%	B+
PDX to BUR · Burbankthin sample	68	92.4%	75 min	2.94%	A
PDX to EWR · Newarkthin sample	60	95.0%	300 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to MDW · Chicagothin sample	60	96.6%	23 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	60	93.2%	20 min	0.00%	A+
PDX to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	60	100.0%	—	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held PDX up in April

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 44,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
40%
Carrier
31%
National Airspace System
26%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

40% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 44,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 23 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 43,837 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.48%, below the national 0.90% 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.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 3.6% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.4% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

What to do with this

Flying from PDX in April

For a April trip through PDX: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 86.1% on time with 0.48% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Portland International (PDX), the whole year
PDX in July75.7%
PDX in August80.9%
PDX in September83.7%
PDX in October82.1%
PDX in November84.2%
PDX in December79.3%
PDX in January85.6%
PDX in February86.3%
PDX in March86.3%
PDX in May83.9%
PDX in June80.3%

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