Airport month record
PDXJAN
Portland International in January 2026
- Departures
- 4,537
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 7
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at PDX, see live FAA status.
PDX in January 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 79.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 4,537 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 485 at 91.8% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 91.8% on time across 485 flights.
Key figures
On time
85.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 4,463 completed departures
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.41%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
82.6%
PDX across all twelve months
These figures cover 4,537 departures from Portland 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 PDX's other months
Against PDX's own year, January ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 82.6%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 1.41% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.8 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 79.3% on time and February 86.3%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| 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 (this page) | 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 | 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 January
Departure time is the single lever a traveller controls, and it moves the odds more than most people expect. Each bar below is the on-time rate for flights scheduled to leave inside that window, across 4,537 flights.
- 5am–8am1,229 flights88.7%
- 8am–11am869 flights84.8%
- 11am–2pm539 flights84.0%
- 2pm–5pm776 flights83.8%
- 5pm–8pm696 flights85.1%
- 8pm–5am428 flights84.7%
Scale runs 75% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The early departures do better, though not dramatically: 88.7% on time for the 5am–8am window against 83.8% for 2pm–5pm. Worth taking if the schedule allows, not worth an extra connection. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,229 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 89.6% on time and Friday 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 January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 91.8% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 82.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 668 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 2,012 | 83.4% | 50 min | 1.19% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 668 | 82.6% | 78 min | 1.05% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 583 | 89.5% | 37 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 485 | 91.8% | 65 min | 1.44% | A |
| United Airlines | 417 | 89.9% | 71 min | 0.48% | A+ |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 314 | 85.6% | 189 min | 7.01% | A− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 42 | 67.5% | 67 min | 4.76% | C− |
Delta leads SkyWest by 9 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of PDX in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDX to SEA · Seattle | 407 | 85.7% | 70 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PDX to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 331 | 86.9% | 80 min | 0.60% | A+ |
| PDX to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 299 | 82.8% | 78 min | 0.67% | B+ |
| PDX to DEN · Denverthin sample | 270 | 87.7% | 43 min | 0.37% | A+ |
| PDX to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 253 | 83.6% | 78 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| PDX to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 225 | 85.7% | 51 min | 0.89% | A+ |
| PDX to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 177 | 88.0% | 64 min | 1.13% | A |
| PDX to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 169 | 81.7% | 137 min | 9.47% | B− |
| PDX to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 160 | 89.9% | 30 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PDX to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 140 | 84.7% | 123 min | 1.43% | B |
| PDX to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 132 | 79.2% | 43 min | 0.76% | B+ |
| PDX to SJC · San Josethin sample | 126 | 86.5% | 60 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PDX to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 118 | 87.1% | 25 min | 1.69% | A |
| PDX to BOI · Boisethin sample | 97 | 88.7% | 61 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PDX to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 96 | 92.7% | 47 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PDX to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 94 | 93.3% | 38 min | 3.19% | A− |
| PDX to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 94 | 90.3% | 72 min | 1.06% | A |
| PDX to GEG · Spokanethin sample | 91 | 79.8% | 46 min | 2.20% | B |
| PDX to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 83 | 95.1% | 35 min | 1.20% | A |
| PDX to HNL · Honoluluthin sample | 81 | 62.8% | 72 min | 3.70% | D− |
| PDX to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample | 80 | 93.2% | 66 min | 6.25% | A− |
| PDX to BUR · Burbankthin sample | 71 | 88.7% | 44 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PDX to ANC · Anchoragethin sample | 68 | 79.4% | 60 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PDX to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 62 | 83.3% | 27 min | 3.23% | B− |
| PDX to OGG · Kahuluithin sample | 62 | 85.5% | 31 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held PDX up in January
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 42,000 reported delay minutes.
- 42%Carrier
- 31%Late-arriving aircraft
- 18%National Airspace System
- 9%Extreme weather
- 1%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 42%, 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 18,000 of the 42,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 42,085 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.41% against a national 4.71%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.22%.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.0% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% 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 January
For a January trip through PDX: expect 85.6% on time and 1.41% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- 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 February86.3%
- PDX in March86.3%
- PDX in April86.1%
- 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.