Airport month record
PHLMAY
Philadelphia International in May 2026
- Departures
- 9,251
- Month
- May 2026
- National, same month
- 78.6%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for May 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s May. For today’s conditions at PHL, see live FAA status.
PHL in May lands a B, 2 points better than the national rate of 78.6%. 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 9,251 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 567 at 87.3% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 87.3% on time across 567 flights.
Key figures
On time
80.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,122 completed departures
Avg delay
74 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.09%
Nationally in May: 0.92%
Whole year
75.7%
PHL across all twelve months
These figures cover 9,251 departures from Philadelphia International in May 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
May next to PHL's other months
Against PHL's own year, May ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for PHL in May, at 1.09% against 2.64% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 80.8% on time and June 74.4%, 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 | 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 (this page) | 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 May
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,078 flights90.6%
- 8am–11am2,222 flights88.0%
- 11am–2pm1,316 flights80.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,469 flights75.3%
- 5pm–8pm1,961 flights71.3%
- 8pm–5am1,205 flights80.3%
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 90.6% of the time, against 71.3% for the evening window. That is 19 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 2,222 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 85.0% on time and Wednesday the weakest at 72.8%. 12 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PHL in May
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 87.3% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 67.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 438 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 4,475 | 81.2% | 75 min | 0.94% | B+ |
| PSA Airlines | 1,678 | 80.5% | 69 min | 2.03% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 775 | 78.5% | 65 min | 0.26% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 604 | 85.6% | 89 min | 1.82% | A |
| Republic Airways | 567 | 87.3% | 73 min | 1.23% | A |
| United Airlines | 447 | 77.2% | 84 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 438 | 67.4% | 61 min | 0.23% | C+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 163 | 83.4% | 119 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 81 | 84.8% | 91 min | 2.47% | B |
The spread between Republic and Southwest is 20 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 20 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of PHL in May
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHL to ATL · Atlanta | 520 | 77.8% | 60 min | 1.15% | B |
| PHL to ORD · Chicago | 492 | 80.0% | 89 min | 1.22% | B |
| PHL to MCO · Orlando | 449 | 78.8% | 61 min | 0.22% | B+ |
| PHL to BOS · Boston | 437 | 81.5% | 69 min | 1.14% | B |
| PHL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 313 | 81.9% | 105 min | 2.88% | B |
| PHL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 296 | 88.4% | 62 min | 0.34% | A+ |
| PHL to DEN · Denverthin sample | 276 | 76.4% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PHL to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 256 | 79.2% | 55 min | 0.39% | B+ |
| PHL to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 248 | 85.9% | 101 min | 2.82% | A |
| PHL to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 247 | 85.7% | 61 min | 0.81% | A+ |
| PHL to MIA · Miamithin sample | 246 | 84.8% | 93 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| PHL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 245 | 70.7% | 69 min | 1.22% | C |
| PHL to TPA · Tampathin sample | 228 | 81.8% | 72 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| PHL to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 224 | 80.4% | 69 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PHL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 213 | 87.7% | 87 min | 0.47% | A+ |
| PHL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 211 | 69.2% | 64 min | 0.95% | C+ |
| PHL to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 209 | 87.2% | 127 min | 2.39% | A |
| PHL to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 198 | 77.6% | 123 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| PHL to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 166 | 75.8% | 102 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PHL to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 160 | 77.8% | 53 min | 1.25% | B |
| PHL to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 157 | 78.2% | 50 min | 0.64% | B+ |
| PHL to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 153 | 84.2% | 71 min | 0.65% | B+ |
| PHL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 151 | 82.7% | 73 min | 0.66% | B+ |
| PHL to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 144 | 80.6% | 77 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PHL to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 138 | 86.1% | 92 min | 0.72% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held PHL up in May
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 130,000 reported delay minutes.
- 41%Late-arriving aircraft
- 30%Carrier
- 23%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
41% 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 130,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 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 129,792 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.09% against a national 0.92%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.30%.
7.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%. 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 May
For a May trip through PHL: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 80.7% on time with 1.09% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular 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 March76.7%
- PHL in April80.8%
- 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.