Airport month record

PITMAY

Pittsburgh International in May 2026

Departures: 3,778
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 10

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

PIT in May earns a B+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 6 points better than the national rate of 78.6%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 3,778 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 1,048 at 90.4% on time.

Republic Airways is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 90.4% on time across 1,048 flights.

On time

84.6%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,741 completed departures

Avg delay

68 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.79%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

81.4%

PIT across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,778 departures from Pittsburgh 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 PIT's other months

Against PIT's own year, May ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 81.4%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for PIT in May, at 0.79% against 1.92% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 85.3% on time and June 79.1%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

PIT month by month
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	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 (this page)	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 May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 22 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am984 flights93.8%
8am–11am685 flights91.9%
11am–2pm555 flights84.7%
2pm–5pm520 flights78.1%
5pm–8pm837 flights74.4%
8pm–5am197 flights72.2%

Scale runs 65% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 93.8% of the time, against 72.2% for the overnight window. That is 22 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 984 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 87.2% on time and Wednesday the weakest at 80.9%. 6 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at PIT in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 90.4% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 78.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 888 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at PIT in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Republic Airways	1,048	90.4%	63 min	1.05%	A
Southwest Airlines	888	78.6%	54 min	0.00%	B+
American Airlines	587	82.9%	90 min	1.02%	B
United Airlines	370	82.8%	59 min	0.54%	B+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	318	89.5%	54 min	0.94%	A+
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	152	85.4%	62 min	0.66%	A+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	132	83.8%	109 min	1.52%	B
Allegiant Airthin sample	131	83.7%	160 min	1.53%	B
PSA Airlinesthin sample	55	73.6%	63 min	3.64%	C−
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	50	81.6%	43 min	2.00%	B

Republic leads Southwest by 12 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of PIT in May

Routes from PIT in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PIT to ORD · Chicago	396	83.7%	96 min	1.01%	B
PIT to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	259	88.7%	71 min	1.16%	A
PIT to ATL · Atlantathin sample	243	87.9%	50 min	1.23%	A
PIT to BOS · Bostonthin sample	204	90.2%	53 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to CLT · Charlottethin sample	186	86.5%	57 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to MCO · Orlandothin sample	163	88.2%	74 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to EWR · Newarkthin sample	160	94.9%	36 min	1.88%	A
PIT to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	149	89.7%	38 min	2.01%	A
PIT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	133	81.2%	116 min	3.01%	B−
PIT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	122	89.8%	51 min	3.28%	A−
PIT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	122	74.6%	64 min	0.00%	C+
PIT to DEN · Denverthin sample	119	78.0%	61 min	0.84%	B+
PIT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	96	88.5%	92 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	93	79.6%	44 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	93	83.9%	51 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	88	92.0%	60 min	1.14%	A
PIT to MDW · Chicagothin sample	87	79.3%	66 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to TPA · Tampathin sample	80	85.0%	52 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to DTW · Detroitthin sample	79	86.1%	112 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to IAH · Houstonthin sample	69	79.7%	47 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	68	75.0%	94 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to MIA · Miamithin sample	67	83.6%	45 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	66	84.8%	49 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	65	69.2%	39 min	0.00%	C+
PIT to RDU · Raleighthin sample	62	90.2%	22 min	1.61%	A

Delay causes

What held PIT up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 43% of the 39,000 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
43%
Carrier
29%
National Airspace System
25%
Extreme weather
4%
Security
0%

43% 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 39,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 11 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 39,438 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.79%, 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.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.1% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

What to do with this

Flying from PIT in May

For a May trip through PIT: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.6% on time with 0.79% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

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 January79.2%
PIT in February83.6%
PIT in March78.6%
PIT in April85.3%
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.

Key figures