Airport month record

RSWAPR

Southwest Florida International in April 2026

Departures: 3,632
Month: April 2026
National, same month: 79.8%
Carriers: 7

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

RSW in April lands a B+, about a point better than the national rate of 79.8%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,632 flights, of which United Airlines flew 642 at 88.8% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 88.8% on time across 642 flights.

On time

81.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,597 completed departures

Avg delay

80 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.69%

Nationally in April: 0.90%

Whole year

78.1%

RSW across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,632 departures from Southwest Florida International in April 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

April next to RSW's other months

Against RSW's own year, April ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 78.1%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for RSW in April, at 0.69% against 1.86% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 71.2% on time and May 82.5%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

RSW month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	2,315	73.1%	81 min	2.46%	C
August 2025	2,060	80.8%	78 min	1.12%	B
September 2025	1,847	88.2%	90 min	0.16%	A+
October 2025	2,369	81.2%	74 min	0.59%	B+
November 2025	2,991	81.7%	95 min	1.37%	B
December 2025	3,480	74.2%	86 min	1.93%	C
January 2026	3,454	78.6%	80 min	4.11%	B−
February 2026	3,551	73.8%	70 min	2.87%	C
March 2026	4,504	71.2%	86 min	3.22%	C−
April 2026 (this page)	3,632	81.0%	80 min	0.69%	B+
May 2026	2,802	82.5%	81 min	0.54%	B+
June 2026	2,087	79.6%	77 min	0.91%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave RSW in April

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 33 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am541 flights96.1%
8am–11am676 flights91.4%
11am–2pm792 flights82.1%
2pm–5pm601 flights73.8%
5pm–8pm747 flights72.2%
8pm–5am275 flights62.7%

Scale runs 55% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 62.7% on time, against 96.1% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 792 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.9% on time and Monday the weakest at 71.3%. 18 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at RSW in April

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 88.8% of the time; American Airlines manages 78.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 613 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at RSW in April 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	768	80.8%	61 min	0.13%	B+
Delta Air Lines	761	83.3%	87 min	0.92%	B+
United Airlines	642	88.8%	90 min	0.62%	A+
American Airlines	613	78.9%	88 min	0.65%	B+
JetBlue Airways	515	81.4%	67 min	0.19%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	164	69.4%	124 min	2.44%	C
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	133	55.0%	65 min	3.01%	D−

United leads American by 10 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of RSW in April

Routes from RSW in April 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
RSW to ORD · Chicagothin sample	363	78.5%	92 min	1.65%	B
RSW to BOS · Bostonthin sample	299	73.7%	83 min	0.67%	C+
RSW to ATL · Atlantathin sample	249	85.5%	122 min	0.40%	A+
RSW to EWR · Newarkthin sample	210	89.0%	73 min	0.48%	A+
RSW to DTW · Detroitthin sample	209	76.4%	53 min	0.48%	B+
RSW to CLT · Charlottethin sample	193	88.1%	66 min	0.00%	A+
RSW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	135	83.7%	67 min	0.00%	B+
RSW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	134	79.9%	85 min	0.00%	B+
RSW to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	127	81.5%	59 min	2.36%	B
RSW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	125	75.8%	109 min	0.80%	B+
RSW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	109	68.9%	78 min	2.75%	C
RSW to MDW · Chicagothin sample	104	75.0%	78 min	0.00%	B+
RSW to DEN · Denverthin sample	104	89.4%	95 min	0.00%	A+
RSW to CLE · Clevelandthin sample	104	86.3%	144 min	1.92%	A
RSW to STL · St. Louisthin sample	91	83.5%	60 min	0.00%	B+
RSW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	90	73.0%	74 min	0.00%	C+
RSW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	90	82.2%	56 min	0.00%	B+
RSW to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	90	73.3%	73 min	3.33%	C−
RSW to IAH · Houstonthin sample	86	90.7%	112 min	0.00%	A+
RSW to IND · Indianapolisthin sample	79	81.0%	63 min	0.00%	B+
RSW to HPN · White Plainsthin sample	60	82.1%	52 min	0.00%	B+
RSW to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	60	95.0%	20 min	0.00%	A+
RSW to CVG · Cincinnatithin sample	59	89.8%	88 min	0.00%	A+
RSW to MCO · Orlandothin sample	50	88.0%	44 min	0.00%	A+
RSW to CMH · Columbusthin sample	49	67.3%	47 min	0.00%	C+

Delay causes

What held RSW up in April

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 54,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
41%
National Airspace System
27%
Carrier
24%
Extreme weather
8%

41% 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 54,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 5 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 54,399 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.69%, below the national 0.90% 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.

7.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.4%. 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 RSW in April

For a April trip through RSW: expect 81.0% on time and 0.69% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Southwest Florida International (RSW), the whole year
RSW in July73.1%
RSW in August80.8%
RSW in September88.2%
RSW in October81.2%
RSW in November81.7%
RSW in December74.2%
RSW in January78.6%
RSW in February73.8%
RSW in March71.2%
RSW in May82.5%
RSW in June79.6%

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