Airport month record

PHXOCT

Phoenix Sky Harbor International in October 2025

Departures: 16,620
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 12

Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at PHX, see live FAA status.

PHX in October lands a B+, about a point worse than the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in five 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 16,620 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 953 at 87.2% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 87.2% on time across 953 flights.

On time

78.8%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 16,554 completed departures

Avg delay

59 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.21%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

78.8%

PHX across all twelve months

These figures cover 16,620 departures from Phoenix Sky Harbor International in October 2025. 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

October next to PHX's other months

Against PHX's own year, October ran level with the twelve-month rate of 78.8%, which makes it number six of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for PHX in October, at 0.21% against 0.86% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 83.0% on time and November 78.0%, 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 (this page)	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+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave PHX in October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 21 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am2,240 flights91.3%
8am–11am4,116 flights81.4%
11am–2pm2,785 flights80.3%
2pm–5pm3,104 flights74.0%
5pm–8pm2,533 flights70.7%
8pm–5am1,842 flights74.1%

Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.3% of the time, against 70.7% for the evening window. That is 21 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 4,116 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 87.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 64.1%. 24 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at PHX in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 87.2% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 74.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 6,015 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at PHX in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	6,015	74.4%	47 min	0.10%	C+
American Airlines	4,789	78.8%	69 min	0.27%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	1,715	83.6%	67 min	0.00%	B+
Delta Air Lines	953	87.2%	87 min	0.42%	A+
United Airlines	887	80.3%	52 min	0.23%	B+
Envoy Air	872	84.3%	53 min	0.00%	B+
Frontier Airlines	686	82.2%	87 min	0.15%	B+
Alaska Airlines	508	82.6%	54 min	1.57%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	78	66.2%	87 min	1.28%	C
Allegiant Airthin sample	51	76.5%	144 min	0.00%	B+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	35	77.1%	44 min	0.00%	B+
Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample	31	77.4%	168 min	0.00%	B+

The spread between Delta and Southwest is 13 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 13 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of PHX in October

Routes from PHX in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PHX to DEN · Denver	802	79.5%	55 min	0.12%	B+
PHX to LAX · Los Angeles	667	81.2%	51 min	0.15%	B+
PHX to SEA · Seattle	600	80.4%	57 min	0.50%	B+
PHX to SAN · San Diego	547	74.3%	51 min	0.91%	C+
PHX to LAS · Las Vegas	542	77.5%	72 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to SLC · Salt Lake City	476	83.0%	54 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to ORD · Chicago	440	78.7%	57 min	0.45%	B+
PHX to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth	430	85.3%	102 min	1.40%	A
PHX to SFO · San Francisco	366	71.0%	52 min	0.00%	C+
PHX to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	354	79.1%	44 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to ATL · Atlantathin sample	322	85.6%	80 min	0.31%	A+
PHX to AUS · Austinthin sample	308	73.5%	55 min	0.32%	C+
PHX to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample	306	76.1%	59 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to PDX · Portlandthin sample	293	76.0%	50 min	0.34%	B+
PHX to SMF · Sacramentothin sample	280	76.4%	64 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to BUR · Burbankthin sample	273	71.2%	58 min	0.73%	C+
PHX to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	270	85.9%	67 min	0.00%	A+
PHX to MDW · Chicagothin sample	266	81.9%	44 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to DAL · Dallasthin sample	259	72.8%	52 min	0.77%	C+
PHX to ONT · Ontariothin sample	258	78.7%	45 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to IAH · Houstonthin sample	254	78.7%	54 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to SJC · San Josethin sample	253	75.0%	50 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to CLT · Charlottethin sample	245	90.6%	64 min	0.41%	A+
PHX to ELP · El Pasothin sample	237	78.5%	63 min	0.00%	B+
PHX to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	235	78.4%	90 min	1.28%	B

Delay causes

What held PHX up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 208,000 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
49%
Carrier
33%
National Airspace System
14%
Extreme weather
3%
Security
0%

49% 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 208,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 17 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 208,161 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.21%, below the national 0.53% 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.

6.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. 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 October

For a October trip through PHX: expect 78.8% on time and 0.21% cancelled, going by October 2025. 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 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%

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