Airport month record
PHLJAN
Philadelphia International in January 2026
- Departures
- 7,049
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at PHL, see live FAA status.
PHL in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 7.9% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four 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 7,049 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 619 at 83.1% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 83.1% on time across 619 flights.
Key figures
On time
75.5%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 6,478 completed departures
Avg delay
84 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
7.86%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
75.7%
PHL across all twelve months
These figures cover 7,049 departures from Philadelphia 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 PHL's other months
Against PHL's own year, January ran level with the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 7.86% of scheduled departures were called off, 3.0 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 65.3% on time and February 80.0%, 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 (this page) | 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 | 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 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 7,049 flights.
- 5am–8am936 flights77.2%
- 8am–11am1,821 flights78.6%
- 11am–2pm1,042 flights74.5%
- 2pm–5pm1,141 flights72.8%
- 5pm–8pm1,534 flights73.5%
- 8pm–5am575 flights75.7%
Scale runs 65% to 85%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The early departures do better, though not dramatically: 78.6% on time for the 8am–11am window against 72.8% for 2pm–5pm. Worth taking if the schedule allows, not worth an extra connection. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,821 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 87.3% on time and Sunday the weakest at 59.6%. 28 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PHL in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 83.1% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 58.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 711 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 2,851 | 78.4% | 87 min | 8.10% | B− |
| PSA Airlines | 1,442 | 76.1% | 93 min | 10.33% | B− |
| Frontier Airlines | 711 | 58.0% | 86 min | 6.05% | D− |
| Republic Airways | 619 | 83.1% | 74 min | 7.43% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 465 | 79.8% | 79 min | 5.38% | B− |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 328 | 75.2% | 44 min | 3.96% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 304 | 77.4% | 76 min | 4.93% | B− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 185 | 67.9% | 87 min | 10.81% | C− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 100 | 57.3% | 83 min | 11.00% | D− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 37 | 66.7% | 57 min | 2.70% | C |
PSA Airlines cancels 10.3% 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 January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHL to MCO · Orlando | 452 | 73.6% | 104 min | 7.08% | C− |
| PHL to ATL · Atlanta | 426 | 77.1% | 63 min | 5.87% | B− |
| PHL to BOS · Boston | 365 | 79.5% | 77 min | 7.95% | B− |
| PHL to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 328 | 68.4% | 79 min | 8.23% | C− |
| PHL to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 320 | 72.4% | 106 min | 5.62% | C− |
| PHL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 296 | 78.2% | 76 min | 10.81% | B− |
| PHL to MIA · Miamithin sample | 278 | 78.9% | 70 min | 6.12% | B− |
| PHL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 269 | 75.5% | 123 min | 8.92% | B− |
| PHL to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 219 | 73.5% | 105 min | 6.85% | C− |
| PHL to TPA · Tampathin sample | 199 | 72.1% | 63 min | 7.04% | C− |
| PHL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 195 | 84.9% | 58 min | 8.21% | B− |
| PHL to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 194 | 74.4% | 102 min | 7.22% | C− |
| PHL to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 192 | 56.4% | 61 min | 10.42% | D− |
| PHL to DEN · Denverthin sample | 177 | 72.9% | 57 min | 3.95% | C− |
| PHL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 176 | 79.1% | 65 min | 6.82% | B− |
| PHL to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 154 | 77.1% | 69 min | 5.84% | B− |
| PHL to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 149 | 71.9% | 105 min | 6.04% | C− |
| PHL to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 145 | 83.7% | 71 min | 6.21% | B− |
| PHL to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 141 | 82.0% | 63 min | 9.22% | B− |
| PHL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 125 | 71.6% | 93 min | 7.20% | C− |
| PHL to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 121 | 71.2% | 91 min | 8.26% | C− |
| PHL to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 120 | 78.9% | 62 min | 9.17% | B− |
| PHL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 116 | 75.7% | 100 min | 6.90% | B− |
| PHL to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 102 | 81.4% | 55 min | 4.90% | B− |
| PHL to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 96 | 75.3% | 47 min | 3.12% | B− |
Delay causes
What held PHL 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 133,000 reported delay minutes.
- 36%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 22%National Airspace System
- 11%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
36% 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 133,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 3 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 132,581 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 7.86%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in twelve 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.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.9% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from PHL in January
For a January trip through PHL: expect 75.5% on time and 7.86% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 8am–11am 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 February80.0%
- 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.