Airport month record
PITJAN
Pittsburgh International in January 2026
- Departures
- 3,099
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at PIT, see live FAA status.
PIT in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 6.0% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 3,099 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 872 at 84.2% on time.
Key figures
On time
79.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,908 completed departures
Avg delay
81 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
6.03%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
81.4%
PIT across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,099 departures from Pittsburgh International in January 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
January next to PIT's other months
Against PIT's own year, January ran 2 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 81.4%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 6.03% of scheduled departures were called off, 3.1 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 73.2% on time and February 83.6%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 3,959 | 76.7% | 82 min | 3.31% | B− |
| August 2025 | 3,841 | 82.6% | 75 min | 1.20% | B |
| September 2025 | 3,672 | 86.2% | 70 min | 0.65% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 3,850 | 83.0% | 62 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,510 | 84.4% | 78 min | 1.77% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,474 | 73.2% | 72 min | 1.50% | C |
| January 2026 (this page) | 3,099 | 79.2% | 81 min | 6.03% | B− |
| February 2026 | 2,943 | 83.6% | 63 min | 2.68% | B |
| March 2026 | 3,434 | 78.6% | 88 min | 2.88% | B |
| April 2026 | 3,531 | 85.3% | 71 min | 0.51% | A+ |
| May 2026 | 3,778 | 84.6% | 68 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 3,815 | 79.1% | 85 min | 1.68% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave PIT in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 12 points, against 5 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am894 flights81.2%
- 8am–11am656 flights83.5%
- 11am–2pm506 flights78.4%
- 2pm–5pm386 flights76.0%
- 5pm–8pm596 flights74.9%
- 8pm–5am61 flights71.2%
Scale runs 65% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the morning departure. Flights leaving between 8am–11am arrive on time 83.5% of the time, against 71.2% for the overnight window. That is 12 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 894 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 86.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 65.7%. 21 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PIT in January
The two carriers here are closely matched: 5 points separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 872 | 84.2% | 59 min | 6.88% | B− |
| Southwest Airlines | 755 | 79.6% | 52 min | 3.97% | B− |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 364 | 79.8% | 112 min | 8.24% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 280 | 81.0% | 89 min | 3.57% | B− |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 250 | 81.4% | 69 min | 5.20% | B− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 115 | 68.9% | 54 min | 7.83% | C− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 107 | 72.9% | 113 min | 10.28% | C− |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 106 | 66.7% | 99 min | 6.60% | C− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 96 | 70.5% | 133 min | 8.33% | C− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 82 | 57.5% | 169 min | 2.44% | D |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 39 | 82.4% | 233 min | 12.82% | B− |
Republic Airways cancels 6.9% 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 PIT in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 271 | 72.5% | 95 min | 4.06% | C− |
| PIT to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 230 | 82.5% | 58 min | 8.26% | B− |
| PIT to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 217 | 86.3% | 90 min | 5.53% | A− |
| PIT to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 196 | 73.4% | 52 min | 4.08% | C− |
| PIT to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 151 | 84.3% | 167 min | 11.26% | B− |
| PIT to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 150 | 92.1% | 67 min | 7.33% | A− |
| PIT to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 125 | 84.3% | 109 min | 8.00% | B− |
| PIT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 124 | 67.5% | 62 min | 8.06% | C− |
| PIT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 118 | 65.7% | 74 min | 8.47% | C− |
| PIT to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 117 | 85.7% | 79 min | 10.26% | A− |
| PIT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 112 | 92.5% | 86 min | 5.36% | A− |
| PIT to DEN · Denverthin sample | 106 | 79.6% | 32 min | 2.83% | B |
| PIT to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 104 | 60.4% | 144 min | 2.88% | D |
| PIT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 100 | 82.2% | 95 min | 9.00% | B− |
| PIT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 92 | 85.4% | 58 min | 3.26% | A− |
| PIT to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 88 | 82.6% | 59 min | 2.27% | B |
| PIT to MIA · Miamithin sample | 72 | 70.1% | 112 min | 6.94% | C− |
| PIT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 72 | 92.5% | 34 min | 6.94% | A− |
| PIT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 71 | 71.6% | 87 min | 5.63% | C− |
| PIT to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 62 | 91.4% | 39 min | 6.45% | A− |
| PIT to TPA · Tampathin sample | 60 | 74.6% | 73 min | 1.67% | C |
| PIT to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 43 | 83.3% | 47 min | 2.33% | B |
| PIT to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 40 | 70.3% | 30 min | 5.00% | C− |
| PIT to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 36 | 80.0% | 117 min | 2.78% | B |
| PIT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 35 | 88.2% | 74 min | 2.86% | A |
Delay causes
What held PIT up in January
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 49,000 reported delay minutes.
- 39%Carrier
- 24%Late-arriving aircraft
- 23%National Airspace System
- 14%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 14% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the comparison with the other months below is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 10%, so this operation carries roughly 1.4 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 49,296 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 6.03%, against 4.71% nationally. That is roughly one flight in fifteen 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.
7.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. 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 PIT in January
For a January trip through PIT: expect 79.2% on time and 6.03% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 8am–11am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Pittsburgh International (PIT), the whole year
- PIT in July76.7%
- PIT in August82.6%
- PIT in September86.2%
- PIT in October83.0%
- PIT in November84.4%
- PIT in December73.2%
- PIT in February83.6%
- PIT in March78.6%
- PIT in April85.3%
- PIT in May84.6%
- PIT in June79.1%
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.