Airport month record
PHLFEB
Philadelphia International in February 2026
- Departures
- 6,686
- Month
- February 2026
- National, same month
- 80.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for February 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s February. For today’s conditions at PHL, see live FAA status.
PHL in February carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 6.1% of scheduled flights never operate, against 2.3% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 6,686 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 462 at 88.1% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 88.1% on time across 462 flights.
Key figures
On time
80.0%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 6,271 completed departures
Avg delay
70 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
6.09%
Nationally in February: 2.25%
Whole year
75.7%
PHL across all twelve months
These figures cover 6,686 departures from Philadelphia International in February 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
February next to PHL's other months
Against PHL's own year, February ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where February stands out: 6.09% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.3 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, January ran 75.5% on time and March 76.7%, 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 | 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 (this page) | 6,686 | 80.0% | 70 min | 6.09% | B− |
| March 2026 | 7,778 | 76.7% | 86 min | 3.15% | B− |
| April 2026 | 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 February
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 6,686 flights.
- 5am–8am827 flights84.4%
- 8am–11am1,668 flights83.2%
- 11am–2pm987 flights82.4%
- 2pm–5pm1,064 flights77.0%
- 5pm–8pm1,542 flights76.9%
- 8pm–5am598 flights74.7%
Scale runs 65% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 84.4% of the time, against 74.7% for the overnight window. That is 10 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,668 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 87.8% on time and Friday the weakest at 74.3%. 14 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PHL in February
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 88.1% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 69.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 737 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 2,836 | 81.4% | 68 min | 5.78% | B− |
| PSA Airlines | 1,112 | 76.7% | 79 min | 7.19% | B− |
| Frontier Airlines | 737 | 69.5% | 74 min | 5.83% | C− |
| Republic Airways | 592 | 87.1% | 72 min | 7.09% | A− |
| Delta Air Lines | 462 | 88.1% | 72 min | 5.19% | A− |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 328 | 80.6% | 52 min | 3.66% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 288 | 85.3% | 48 min | 3.12% | A− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 187 | 73.9% | 70 min | 11.76% | C− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 100 | 69.2% | 69 min | 9.00% | C− |
PSA Airlines cancels 7.2% 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 PHL in February
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHL to MCO · Orlando | 434 | 76.6% | 89 min | 5.30% | B− |
| PHL to ATL · Atlanta | 407 | 85.4% | 62 min | 5.65% | A− |
| PHL to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 361 | 83.4% | 73 min | 8.03% | B− |
| PHL to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 340 | 82.3% | 93 min | 3.82% | B− |
| PHL to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 311 | 73.3% | 68 min | 7.40% | C− |
| PHL to MIA · Miamithin sample | 272 | 79.8% | 70 min | 5.51% | B− |
| PHL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 261 | 86.7% | 56 min | 8.05% | A− |
| PHL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 253 | 85.7% | 48 min | 6.32% | A− |
| PHL to TPA · Tampathin sample | 244 | 76.9% | 77 min | 5.74% | B− |
| PHL to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 212 | 78.0% | 68 min | 5.66% | B− |
| PHL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 202 | 80.1% | 72 min | 5.45% | B− |
| PHL to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 179 | 79.5% | 63 min | 7.26% | B− |
| PHL to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 176 | 60.0% | 57 min | 6.25% | D− |
| PHL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 173 | 84.8% | 57 min | 5.20% | B− |
| PHL to DEN · Denverthin sample | 173 | 80.8% | 65 min | 3.47% | B− |
| PHL to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 144 | 74.1% | 61 min | 6.25% | C− |
| PHL to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 142 | 74.2% | 60 min | 7.04% | C− |
| PHL to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 139 | 79.5% | 53 min | 4.32% | B− |
| PHL to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 132 | 82.0% | 126 min | 7.58% | B− |
| PHL to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 127 | 91.8% | 32 min | 3.94% | A− |
| PHL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 117 | 78.6% | 46 min | 4.27% | B− |
| PHL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 102 | 83.2% | 115 min | 6.86% | B− |
| PHL to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 96 | 87.8% | 60 min | 6.25% | A− |
| PHL to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 94 | 86.2% | 58 min | 7.45% | A− |
| PHL to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 84 | 84.8% | 40 min | 3.57% | B− |
Delay causes
What held PHL up in February
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 88,000 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.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 18%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
46% 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 88,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 16 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 87,875 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 6.09%, against 2.25% nationally. That is roughly one flight in fifteen 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.
7.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.5%. 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 February
For a February trip through PHL: expect 80.0% on time and 6.09% cancelled, going by February 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- 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 March76.7%
- PHL in April80.8%
- 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.