Airport month record

PITOCT

Pittsburgh International in October 2025

Departures: 3,850
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 13

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

PIT in October lands a B+, 3 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in six 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 3,850 flights, of which United Airlines flew 382 at 87.9% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 87.9% on time across 382 flights.

On time

83.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,812 completed departures

Avg delay

62 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.81%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

81.4%

PIT across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,850 departures from Pittsburgh 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 PIT's other months

Against PIT's own year, October ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 81.4%, which makes it number six of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for PIT in October, at 0.81% against 1.92% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 86.2% on time and November 84.4%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page)	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	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 October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 22 points, against 6 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,063 flights93.3%
8am–11am598 flights89.8%
11am–2pm521 flights88.1%
2pm–5pm621 flights73.4%
5pm–8pm835 flights71.4%
8pm–5am212 flights72.7%

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 93.3% of the time, against 71.4% for the evening 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 1,063 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 86.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 77.7%. 8 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at PIT in October

The four carriers here are closely matched: 6 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.

Carriers at PIT in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Republic Airways	1,018	82.1%	58 min	1.57%	B
Southwest Airlines	881	84.5%	59 min	0.11%	B+
American Airlines	550	82.0%	73 min	0.00%	B+
United Airlines	382	87.9%	41 min	0.26%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	263	91.6%	61 min	0.00%	A+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	170	79.4%	74 min	2.94%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	169	72.7%	79 min	2.37%	C
Allegiant Airthin sample	132	88.6%	74 min	0.00%	A+
PSA Airlinesthin sample	115	65.8%	53 min	0.87%	C+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	68	80.3%	66 min	2.94%	B
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	34	93.9%	61 min	2.94%	A
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	34	73.5%	104 min	0.00%	C+
Envoy Airthin sample	34	76.5%	49 min	0.00%	B+

No carrier stands out. United tops the table at 87.9%, 6 points clear of the bottom, which is inside the range this kind of sample moves year to year.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of PIT in October

Routes from PIT in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
PIT to ORD · Chicago	372	81.9%	50 min	0.27%	B+
PIT to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	257	72.7%	60 min	4.67%	C−
PIT to ATL · Atlantathin sample	251	92.0%	51 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to BOS · Bostonthin sample	213	66.8%	78 min	1.88%	C
PIT to MCO · Orlandothin sample	187	81.1%	61 min	1.07%	B
PIT to EWR · Newarkthin sample	185	81.9%	56 min	1.62%	B
PIT to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	183	87.7%	72 min	2.19%	A
PIT to DEN · Denverthin sample	178	89.8%	42 min	0.56%	A+
PIT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	172	74.3%	113 min	0.58%	C+
PIT to CLT · Charlottethin sample	169	86.4%	48 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	139	73.2%	47 min	0.00%	C+
PIT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	135	85.8%	46 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to MDW · Chicagothin sample	114	83.3%	65 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	111	84.7%	26 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	98	80.6%	73 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	93	89.2%	71 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	90	82.2%	58 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	81	90.0%	49 min	1.23%	A
PIT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	71	88.7%	79 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to TPA · Tampathin sample	70	75.7%	58 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to IAH · Houstonthin sample	66	84.8%	44 min	0.00%	B+
PIT to RDU · Raleighthin sample	62	91.9%	30 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to SFO · San Franciscothin sample	49	93.8%	37 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to DTW · Detroitthin sample	38	86.8%	45 min	0.00%	A+
PIT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	36	94.4%	75 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held PIT up in October

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 40,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
38%
National Airspace System
37%
Carrier
25%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

38% 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 40,000 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 40,369 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.81%, 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.

5.5% 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 PIT in October

For a October trip through PIT: expect 83.0% on time and 0.81% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Pittsburgh International (PIT), the whole year
PIT in July76.7%
PIT in August82.6%
PIT in September86.2%
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 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.

Key figures