Airport month record

PHXMAY

Phoenix Sky Harbor International in May 2026

Departures: 17,337
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 PHX, see live FAA status.

PHX in May lands a B+, 2 points worse than the national rate of 78.6%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 17,337 flights, of which Alaska Airlines flew 467 at 92.7% on time.

Alaska Airlines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 92.7% on time across 467 flights.

On time

77.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 17,238 completed departures

Avg delay

58 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.30%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

78.8%

PHX across all twelve months

These figures cover 17,337 departures from Phoenix Sky Harbor 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 PHX's other months

Against PHX's own year, May ran 2 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 78.8%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for PHX in May, at 0.30% against 0.86% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 80.8% on time and June 72.4%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

PHX month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	15,729	75.5%	70 min	0.97%	B+
August 2025	14,380	81.0%	66 min	0.39%	B+
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 (this page)	17,337	77.0%	58 min	0.30%	B+
June 2026	15,685	72.4%	65 min	0.43%	C+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave PHX in May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 25 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am2,134 flights92.7%
8am–11am4,253 flights83.1%
11am–2pm2,667 flights75.9%
2pm–5pm3,212 flights72.4%
5pm–8pm2,489 flights66.5%
8pm–5am2,582 flights70.9%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.7% of the time, against 66.5% for the evening window. That is 26 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 4,253 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 83.7% on time and Monday the weakest at 72.5%. 11 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at PHX in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Alaska Airlines arrives on time 92.7% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 67.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 6,070 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at PHX in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	6,070	67.4%	46 min	0.20%	C+
American Airlines	4,830	80.8%	74 min	0.50%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	2,656	82.6%	74 min	0.11%	B+
Envoy Air	942	81.8%	50 min	0.00%	B+
Delta Air Lines	910	88.1%	60 min	0.77%	A+
United Airlines	800	79.7%	60 min	0.25%	B+
Frontier Airlines	561	78.2%	79 min	0.36%	B+
Alaska Airlines	467	92.7%	55 min	0.43%	A+
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	77	82.9%	54 min	0.00%	B+

The spread between Alaska and Southwest is 25 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 25 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of PHX in May

Routes from PHX in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PHX to DEN · Denver	768	76.5%	60 min	0.39%	B+
PHX to LAX · Los Angeles	641	83.2%	52 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to SEA · Seattle	623	86.2%	50 min	0.32%	A+
PHX to SAN · San Diego	554	67.5%	44 min	0.54%	C+
PHX to LAS · Las Vegas	547	76.5%	68 min	0.37%	B+
PHX to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth	502	81.2%	139 min	3.98%	B−
PHX to SLC · Salt Lake City	500	82.5%	48 min	0.20%	B+
PHX to ORD · Chicago	499	76.6%	53 min	0.20%	B+
PHX to SFO · San Francisco	418	45.1%	56 min	0.24%	F+
PHX to SNA · Santa Ana	402	80.1%	56 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to SMF · Sacramentothin sample	341	80.1%	51 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to TUS · Tucsonthin sample	341	81.2%	67 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to ATL · Atlantathin sample	339	76.6%	59 min	0.29%	B+
PHX to PDX · Portlandthin sample	313	79.6%	63 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to AUS · Austinthin sample	296	74.1%	53 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to BUR · Burbankthin sample	284	83.7%	70 min	0.35%	B+
PHX to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample	271	74.5%	64 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to SJC · San Josethin sample	269	72.9%	41 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	268	86.4%	85 min	0.75%	A+
PHX to CLT · Charlottethin sample	264	90.9%	95 min	0.00%	A+
PHX to IAH · Houstonthin sample	257	80.2%	55 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to DAL · Dallasthin sample	256	67.3%	61 min	0.78%	C+
PHX to ONT · Ontariothin sample	254	71.7%	47 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to MDW · Chicagothin sample	236	63.2%	41 min	0.85%	D+
PHX to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	233	84.4%	59 min	0.86%	B+

Delay causes

What held PHX up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 231,000 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.

Late-arriving aircraft
46%
Carrier
36%
National Airspace System
17%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

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 231,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 38 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 230,585 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.30%, below the national 0.92% 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.

6.5% 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 about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from PHX in May

For a May trip through PHX: expect 77.0% on time and 0.30% cancelled, going by May 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX), the whole year
PHX in July75.5%
PHX in August81.0%
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 June72.4%

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.

Key figures