Airport month record
PHLMAR
Philadelphia International in March 2026
- Departures
- 7,778
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at PHL, see live FAA status.
PHL in March lands a B−, about a point better than the national rate of 75.7%. About one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by an hour and a half on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 7,778 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 522 at 83.3% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 83.3% on time across 522 flights.
Key figures
On time
76.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 7,493 completed departures
Avg delay
86 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.15%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
75.7%
PHL across all twelve months
These figures cover 7,778 departures from Philadelphia International in March 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
March next to PHL's other months
Against PHL's own year, March ran about a point better than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, February ran 80.0% on time and April 80.8%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 | 6,686 | 80.0% | 70 min | 6.09% | B− |
| March 2026 (this page) | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 17 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,086 flights85.1%
- 8am–11am1,863 flights83.6%
- 11am–2pm1,101 flights77.6%
- 2pm–5pm1,137 flights74.3%
- 5pm–8pm1,875 flights68.6%
- 8pm–5am716 flights68.9%
Scale runs 60% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 85.1% of the time, against 68.6% for the evening window. That is 17 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 1,875 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 82.6% on time and Thursday the weakest at 73.7%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PHL in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 83.3% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 65.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 839 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 3,310 | 79.8% | 95 min | 2.02% | B |
| PSA Airlines | 1,276 | 75.1% | 90 min | 7.52% | B− |
| Frontier Airlines | 839 | 65.9% | 82 min | 2.62% | C |
| Republic Airways | 663 | 81.4% | 63 min | 1.51% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 522 | 83.3% | 84 min | 3.45% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 406 | 71.6% | 58 min | 1.23% | C |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 344 | 84.0% | 153 min | 0.87% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 219 | 57.7% | 61 min | 10.50% | D− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 138 | 75.2% | 72 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 44 | 37.2% | 40 min | 2.27% | F |
PSA Airlines cancels 7.5% 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 March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHL to MCO · Orlando | 490 | 73.9% | 69 min | 3.88% | C− |
| PHL to ATL · Atlanta | 457 | 80.3% | 61 min | 4.16% | B− |
| PHL to BOS · Boston | 429 | 76.9% | 85 min | 0.93% | B+ |
| PHL to ORD · Chicago | 386 | 72.6% | 159 min | 4.92% | C− |
| PHL to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 345 | 65.8% | 70 min | 3.77% | C− |
| PHL to TPA · Tampathin sample | 317 | 71.6% | 87 min | 1.89% | C |
| PHL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 300 | 82.7% | 86 min | 1.67% | B |
| PHL to MIA · Miamithin sample | 293 | 79.8% | 64 min | 2.05% | B |
| PHL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 291 | 86.2% | 134 min | 2.06% | A |
| PHL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 243 | 76.6% | 55 min | 1.65% | B |
| PHL to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 220 | 86.4% | 83 min | 5.45% | A− |
| PHL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 211 | 90.0% | 92 min | 0.95% | A+ |
| PHL to DEN · Denverthin sample | 206 | 75.7% | 87 min | 1.46% | B |
| PHL to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 203 | 58.7% | 66 min | 2.96% | D |
| PHL to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 196 | 77.1% | 73 min | 4.08% | B− |
| PHL to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 166 | 65.2% | 94 min | 2.41% | C |
| PHL to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 161 | 79.9% | 86 min | 1.24% | B |
| PHL to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 155 | 86.2% | 93 min | 1.29% | A |
| PHL to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 151 | 76.6% | 92 min | 9.27% | B− |
| PHL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 148 | 83.0% | 129 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| PHL to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 147 | 86.8% | 124 min | 2.04% | A |
| PHL to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 116 | 76.1% | 78 min | 2.59% | B |
| PHL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 115 | 83.6% | 69 min | 4.35% | B− |
| PHL to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 115 | 83.6% | 93 min | 4.35% | B− |
| PHL to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 105 | 66.7% | 83 min | 6.67% | C− |
Delay causes
What held PHL up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 150,000 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.
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 27%Carrier
- 20%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
48% 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 150,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 10 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 149,736 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.15%, against 2.90% nationally. That is about one flight in 30 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. 10.6% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% 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 March
For a March trip through PHL: expect 76.7% on time and 3.15% cancelled, going by March 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 February80.0%
- 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.