Airport month record

PHXAUG

Phoenix Sky Harbor International in August 2026

Departures: 14,757
Month: August 2026
National, same month: 73.1%
Carriers: 9

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

PHX in August sits in the middle of the pack with a B+. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 2 points better than the national rate of 73.1%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 14,757 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 836 at 83.9% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 83.9% on time across 836 flights.

On time

75.2%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 14,616 completed departures

Avg delay

65 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.54%

Nationally in August: 1.86%

Whole year

77.9%

PHX across all twelve months

These figures cover 14,757 departures from Phoenix Sky Harbor International in August 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

August next to PHX's other months

Against PHX's own year, August ran 3 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 77.9%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first.

PHX month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
September 2025	13,772	83.0%	74 min	1.09%	B
October 2025	16,620	78.8%	59 min	0.21%	B+
November 2025	16,887	78.0%	63 min	2.21%	B
December 2025	17,689	78.4%	59 min	0.50%	B+
January 2026	16,564	81.6%	64 min	2.34%	B
February 2026	15,656	83.4%	58 min	0.71%	B+
March 2026	19,277	76.8%	65 min	0.92%	B+
April 2026	17,679	80.8%	57 min	0.29%	B+
May 2026	17,337	77.0%	58 min	0.30%	B+
June 2026	15,685	72.4%	65 min	0.43%	C+
July 2026	16,096	70.0%	69 min	0.89%	C+
August 2026 (this page)	14,757	75.2%	65 min	0.54%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave PHX in August

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 29 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier.

5am–8am1,825 flights90.1%
8am–11am4,056 flights82.2%
11am–2pm2,491 flights76.0%
2pm–5pm2,612 flights68.8%
5pm–8pm2,372 flights66.0%
8pm–5am1,401 flights60.9%

Scale runs 50% to 95%.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 60.9% on time, against 90.1% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 4,056 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 82.4% on time and Sunday the weakest at 68.6%, a spread of 14 points.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at PHX in August

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 83.9% of the time; United Airlines manages 68.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 718 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at PHX in August 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	4,976	70.7%	51 min	0.52%	C+
American Airlines	4,108	76.6%	78 min	0.46%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	1,973	79.5%	72 min	0.35%	B+
Envoy Air	1,100	81.1%	57 min	0.00%	B+
Delta Air Lines	836	83.9%	78 min	0.60%	B+
United Airlines	718	68.5%	80 min	0.97%	C+
Frontier Airlines	539	71.2%	76 min	1.11%	C
Alaska Airlines	458	78.5%	46 min	1.09%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	31	51.9%	225 min	12.90%	F−

The spread between Delta and United is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of PHX in August

Routes from PHX in August 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PHX to DEN · Denver	681	64.4%	84 min	0.88%	D+
PHX to LAX · Los Angeles	597	82.3%	46 min	0.34%	B+
PHX to SEA · Seattle	560	76.9%	56 min	1.07%	B
PHX to SAN · San Diego	523	52.3%	49 min	0.76%	F+
PHX to LAS · Las Vegas	466	75.9%	78 min	1.07%	B
PHX to ORD · Chicago	461	77.2%	98 min	0.87%	B+
PHX to SLC · Salt Lake City	435	84.4%	64 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth	391	83.4%	58 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to SFO · San Francisco	377	45.4%	59 min	0.00%	F+
PHX to SNA · Santa Ana	372	83.5%	44 min	0.27%	B+
PHX to PDX · Portlandthin sample	292	74.5%	53 min	0.68%	C+
PHX to TUS · Tucsonthin sample	286	79.2%	91 min	0.70%	B+
PHX to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	266	66.0%	94 min	3.38%	C−
PHX to ATL · Atlantathin sample	263	77.0%	87 min	0.76%	B+
PHX to AUS · Austinthin sample	253	74.9%	42 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to BUR · Burbankthin sample	249	81.5%	62 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to SMF · Sacramentothin sample	248	79.4%	82 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample	242	73.1%	58 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to CLT · Charlottethin sample	225	80.4%	59 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to DAL · Dallasthin sample	223	69.4%	43 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to ONT · Ontariothin sample	222	77.4%	69 min	0.45%	B+
PHX to IAH · Houstonthin sample	216	87.7%	91 min	0.46%	A+
PHX to EWR · Newarkthin sample	208	70.4%	77 min	2.40%	C
PHX to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	205	88.8%	90 min	0.00%	A+
PHX to SJC · San Josethin sample	201	78.0%	64 min	0.50%	B+

Delay causes

What held PHX up in August

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 236,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
42%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
22%
Extreme weather
5%
Security
0%

42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 236,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 8 to one. The split is drawn from 236,174 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.54%, below the national 1.86% 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.

8.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 10.9%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from PHX in August

For a August trip through PHX: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 90.1% on time, and with 8.4% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in February would.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX), the whole year
PHX in September83.0%
PHX in October78.8%
PHX in November78.0%
PHX in December78.4%
PHX in January81.6%
PHX in February83.4%
PHX in March76.8%
PHX in April80.8%
PHX in May77.0%
PHX in June72.4%
PHX in July70.0%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated 22 October 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures