Airport month record
TPAMAR
Tampa International in March 2026
- Departures
- 7,679
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at TPA, see live FAA status.
TPA in March lands a B, level with the national rate of 75.7%. About one flight in four 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 7,679 flights, of which United Airlines flew 915 at 81.4% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 81.4% on time across 915 flights.
Key figures
On time
76.4%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 7,431 completed departures
Avg delay
78 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.89%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
78.1%
TPA across all twelve months
These figures cover 7,679 departures from Tampa International in March 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
March next to TPA's other months
Against TPA's own year, March ran 2 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 78.1%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where March stands out: 2.89% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.9 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, February ran 77.1% on time and April 82.3%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 6,770 | 69.2% | 80 min | 1.79% | C |
| August 2025 | 6,171 | 74.6% | 72 min | 0.70% | C+ |
| September 2025 | 5,502 | 87.1% | 73 min | 0.22% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 6,075 | 79.2% | 68 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 6,421 | 81.3% | 79 min | 2.41% | B |
| December 2025 | 6,851 | 75.4% | 74 min | 1.36% | B |
| January 2026 | 6,432 | 81.0% | 66 min | 3.81% | B− |
| February 2026 | 6,173 | 77.1% | 61 min | 2.25% | B |
| March 2026 (this page) | 7,679 | 76.4% | 78 min | 2.89% | B |
| April 2026 | 6,952 | 82.3% | 65 min | 0.49% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 6,471 | 77.0% | 76 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 5,964 | 77.7% | 73 min | 0.86% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave TPA in March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 28 points, against 9 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,483 flights91.3%
- 8am–11am1,370 flights88.4%
- 11am–2pm1,395 flights79.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,227 flights64.1%
- 5pm–8pm1,431 flights63.3%
- 8pm–5am773 flights63.6%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 63.3% on time, against 91.3% 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,483 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 84.4% on time and Saturday the weakest at 69.9%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at TPA in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 81.4% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 72.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 744 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 2,414 | 75.3% | 64 min | 2.86% | B |
| American Airlines | 1,342 | 78.4% | 83 min | 2.61% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,338 | 81.2% | 84 min | 3.89% | B− |
| United Airlines | 915 | 81.4% | 86 min | 0.77% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 744 | 72.8% | 100 min | 2.69% | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 455 | 74.4% | 69 min | 1.76% | C |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 287 | 52.5% | 90 min | 9.41% | F− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 93 | 77.8% | 50 min | 1.08% | B |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 87 | 61.9% | 65 min | 3.45% | D− |
Delta Air Lines cancels 3.9% 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 TPA in March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TPA to ATL · Atlanta | 568 | 79.1% | 71 min | 3.70% | B− |
| TPA to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 341 | 62.8% | 99 min | 3.81% | D− |
| TPA to DEN · Denverthin sample | 334 | 83.7% | 105 min | 2.10% | B |
| TPA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 321 | 78.3% | 80 min | 5.30% | B− |
| TPA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 317 | 68.6% | 108 min | 1.58% | C |
| TPA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 285 | 84.8% | 51 min | 2.46% | B |
| TPA to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 285 | 75.5% | 90 min | 2.81% | B |
| TPA to MIA · Miamithin sample | 279 | 76.9% | 101 min | 2.15% | B |
| TPA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 267 | 77.9% | 72 min | 3.00% | B |
| TPA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 262 | 80.6% | 54 min | 3.44% | B− |
| TPA to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 246 | 77.1% | 64 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| TPA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 234 | 69.2% | 76 min | 4.70% | C− |
| TPA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 224 | 67.0% | 53 min | 4.02% | C− |
| TPA to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 218 | 71.3% | 73 min | 3.21% | C− |
| TPA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 182 | 71.9% | 56 min | 6.59% | C− |
| TPA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 175 | 78.0% | 64 min | 1.14% | B |
| TPA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 165 | 56.1% | 82 min | 4.85% | D− |
| TPA to AUS · Austinthin sample | 157 | 83.1% | 75 min | 1.91% | B |
| TPA to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 150 | 70.3% | 71 min | 3.33% | C− |
| TPA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 144 | 82.1% | 81 min | 2.78% | B |
| TPA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 139 | 86.9% | 254 min | 1.44% | A |
| TPA to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 139 | 76.5% | 72 min | 2.16% | B |
| TPA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 128 | 88.2% | 89 min | 0.78% | A+ |
| TPA to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 128 | 83.5% | 90 min | 0.78% | B+ |
| TPA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 125 | 79.3% | 62 min | 3.20% | B− |
Delay causes
What held TPA up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 136,000 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.
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 24%National Airspace System
- 24%Carrier
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
48% 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 136,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 14 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 136,447 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 2.89%, against 2.90% nationally. That is roughly one flight in 30 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.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.6% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from TPA in March
For a March trip through TPA: expect 76.4% on time and 2.89% cancelled, going by March 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Tampa International (TPA), the whole year
- TPA in July69.2%
- TPA in August74.6%
- TPA in September87.1%
- TPA in October79.2%
- TPA in November81.3%
- TPA in December75.4%
- TPA in January81.0%
- TPA in February77.1%
- TPA in April82.3%
- TPA in May77.0%
- TPA in June77.7%
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.