Airport month record

PHLAPR

Philadelphia International in April 2026

Departures: 8,692
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 10

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

PHL in April lands a B+, about a point better than the national rate of 79.8%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 8,692 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 575 at 89.9% on time.

Republic Airways is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 89.9% on time across 575 flights.

On time

80.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,612 completed departures

Avg delay

73 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.68%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

75.7%

PHL across all twelve months

These figures cover 8,692 departures from Philadelphia 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 PHL's other months

Against PHL's own year, April ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for PHL in April, at 0.68% against 2.64% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 76.7% on time and May 80.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

PHL month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	9,013	65.1%	103 min	5.25%	C−
August 2025	9,120	72.2%	79 min	1.30%	C
September 2025	8,225	82.0%	67 min	0.53%	B+
October 2025	9,306	77.5%	72 min	0.44%	B+
November 2025	7,499	77.8%	80 min	2.00%	B
December 2025	7,468	65.3%	80 min	2.36%	C
January 2026	7,049	75.5%	84 min	7.86%	B−
February 2026	6,686	80.0%	70 min	6.09%	B−
March 2026	7,778	76.7%	86 min	3.15%	B−
April 2026 (this page)	8,692	80.8%	73 min	0.68%	B+
May 2026	9,251	80.7%	74 min	1.09%	B
June 2026	9,707	74.4%	85 min	2.73%	C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave PHL in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 24 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,131 flights89.9%
8am–11am1,973 flights89.3%
11am–2pm1,290 flights80.8%
2pm–5pm1,214 flights76.8%
5pm–8pm2,024 flights71.9%
8pm–5am1,060 flights76.7%

Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.9% of the time, against 71.9% for the evening window. That is 18 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 2,024 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 86.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 75.1%. 11 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at PHL in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 89.9% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 66.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 918 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at PHL in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
American Airlines	3,981	82.6%	64 min	0.38%	B+
PSA Airlines	1,461	81.1%	81 min	0.07%	B+
Frontier Airlines	918	66.3%	88 min	2.07%	C
Republic Airways	575	89.9%	81 min	0.17%	A+
Delta Air Lines	531	89.8%	86 min	1.51%	A
Southwest Airlines	417	82.7%	47 min	0.00%	B+
United Airlinesthin sample	361	79.7%	96 min	0.83%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	199	62.8%	62 min	5.53%	D−
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	167	74.9%	57 min	0.00%	C+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	60	78.0%	44 min	1.67%	B

The spread between Republic and Frontier is 24 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 24 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of PHL in April

Routes from PHL in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PHL to MCO · Orlando	504	78.4%	77 min	0.99%	B+
PHL to ATL · Atlanta	491	84.5%	74 min	1.22%	B
PHL to ORD · Chicago	435	76.9%	104 min	2.99%	B
PHL to BOS · Boston	419	80.4%	72 min	0.00%	B+
PHL to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	337	68.7%	62 min	1.48%	C
PHL to MIA · Miamithin sample	295	80.0%	77 min	0.00%	B+
PHL to CLT · Charlottethin sample	292	87.7%	71 min	0.00%	A+
PHL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	265	83.6%	63 min	1.13%	B
PHL to TPA · Tampathin sample	253	76.1%	72 min	0.79%	B+
PHL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	242	80.3%	71 min	1.24%	B
PHL to RDU · Raleighthin sample	235	84.7%	81 min	0.00%	B+
PHL to DTW · Detroitthin sample	233	82.6%	84 min	0.86%	B+
PHL to DEN · Denverthin sample	225	80.8%	75 min	0.00%	B+
PHL to SJU · San Juanthin sample	224	74.2%	78 min	2.68%	C
PHL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	208	82.6%	71 min	0.00%	B+
PHL to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	198	80.8%	62 min	0.00%	B+
PHL to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	188	82.1%	118 min	1.60%	B
PHL to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample	163	79.5%	49 min	1.23%	B
PHL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	162	71.0%	52 min	0.00%	C+
PHL to IAH · Houstonthin sample	159	85.4%	65 min	0.63%	A+
PHL to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	154	75.3%	72 min	0.00%	B+
PHL to IND · Indianapolisthin sample	143	81.7%	68 min	0.70%	B+
PHL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample	137	83.1%	62 min	0.73%	B+
PHL to CVG · Cincinnatithin sample	132	90.9%	76 min	0.00%	A+
PHL to STL · St. Louisthin sample	129	85.9%	47 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held PHL up in April

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 45% of the 121,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
45%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
21%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

45% 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 121,000 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 121,376 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.68%, 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.

6.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says 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 PHL in April

For a April trip through PHL: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 80.8% on time with 0.68% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Philadelphia International (PHL), the whole year
PHL in July65.1%
PHL in August72.2%
PHL in September82.0%
PHL in October77.5%
PHL in November77.8%
PHL in December65.3%
PHL in January75.5%
PHL in February80.0%
PHL in March76.7%
PHL in May80.7%
PHL in June74.4%

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