Airport month record

TPAMAY

Tampa International in May 2026

Departures: 6,471
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 8

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

TPA in May lands a B+, 2 points worse than the national rate of 78.6%. Roughly 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 6,471 flights, of which JetBlue Airways flew 374 at 83.0% on time.

JetBlue Airways is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 83.0% on time across 374 flights.

On time

77.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 6,402 completed departures

Avg delay

76 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.68%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

78.1%

TPA across all twelve months

These figures cover 6,471 departures from Tampa 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 TPA's other months

Against TPA's own year, May ran about a point worse than the twelve-month rate of 78.1%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for TPA in May, at 0.68% against 1.54% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 82.3% on time and June 77.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.

TPA month by month
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	7,679	76.4%	78 min	2.89%	B
April 2026	6,952	82.3%	65 min	0.49%	B+
May 2026 (this page)	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 May

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–8am1,295 flights92.9%
8am–11am1,271 flights87.0%
11am–2pm1,119 flights81.0%
2pm–5pm1,028 flights68.6%
5pm–8pm1,285 flights59.6%
8pm–5am473 flights62.4%

Scale runs 50% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 59.6% on time, against 92.9% 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 1,295 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 81.2% on time and Sunday the weakest at 74.2%. 7 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at TPA in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. JetBlue Airways arrives on time 83.0% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 72.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,207 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at TPA in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,207	72.8%	57 min	0.41%	C+
Delta Air Lines	1,247	80.6%	77 min	1.04%	B
American Airlines	1,204	76.0%	109 min	1.33%	B
United Airlines	712	82.4%	77 min	0.14%	B+
Frontier Airlines	539	78.1%	86 min	0.37%	B+
JetBlue Airways	374	83.0%	84 min	0.27%	B+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	93	75.0%	72 min	1.08%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	82	72.5%	90 min	1.22%	C

JetBlue leads Southwest 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 TPA in May

Routes from TPA in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
TPA to ATL · Atlanta	565	75.4%	74 min	0.35%	B+
TPA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	271	78.5%	88 min	4.43%	B−
TPA to DEN · Denverthin sample	268	82.7%	69 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	255	78.7%	55 min	0.39%	B+
TPA to CLT · Charlottethin sample	251	81.7%	94 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to ORD · Chicagothin sample	250	71.3%	84 min	0.00%	C+
TPA to BOS · Bostonthin sample	231	83.9%	66 min	0.43%	B+
TPA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	229	80.2%	109 min	0.87%	B+
TPA to MIA · Miamithin sample	228	72.4%	91 min	0.00%	C+
TPA to EWR · Newarkthin sample	226	88.3%	82 min	0.44%	A+
TPA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	220	67.4%	60 min	0.45%	C+
TPA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	204	79.1%	104 min	2.94%	B
TPA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	180	83.6%	91 min	1.11%	B
TPA to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	176	75.7%	103 min	1.14%	B
TPA to DTW · Detroitthin sample	141	83.6%	90 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to AUS · Austinthin sample	136	77.2%	51 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to MDW · Chicagothin sample	124	70.5%	41 min	0.81%	C+
TPA to IAH · Houstonthin sample	123	81.3%	83 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	118	78.0%	55 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	117	81.9%	101 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to SJU · San Juanthin sample	116	65.5%	92 min	0.00%	C+
TPA to STL · St. Louisthin sample	116	80.7%	85 min	1.72%	B
TPA to DAL · Dallasthin sample	114	69.6%	59 min	0.88%	C+
TPA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	114	67.5%	139 min	0.00%	C+
TPA to RDU · Raleighthin sample	110	81.7%	104 min	0.91%	B+

Delay causes

What held TPA up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 50% of the 112,000 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
50%
Carrier
22%
National Airspace System
18%
Extreme weather
10%
Security
0%

50% 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 112,000 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 112,172 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.68%, 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.

8.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%. 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 TPA in May

For a May trip through TPA: expect 77.0% on time and 0.68% cancelled, going by May 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

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 March76.4%
TPA in April82.3%
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.

Key figures