Carrier route record
AAPHX→HNL
American Airlines · Phoenix to Honolulu
- Flights
- 587
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
- Share of route
- 45%
- Carriers
- 4
Historical statistics for July 2025 to June 2026, not live status. For today’s flights, check with American Airlines.
American on PHX to HNL lands a B+, 2 points better than the national rate of 77.6%. 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 587 flights, with a median arrival 6 minutes early.
The US average over the same twelve months is 77.6%, so there is little to separate American on PHX to HNL from the country as a whole. The variation that matters here is internal: which carrier, and what time of day.
Key figures
On time
79.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 578 completed flights
Avg delay
78 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.17%
National rate is 1.81%
Whole route
81.4%
Every carrier on PHX to HNL, 1,317 flights
These figures cover 587 flights between July 2025 and June 2026. The median arrival is 6 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
Carrier by carrier
American against every carrier on PHX to HNL
American flew 587 of the 1,317 flights on PHX to HNL, about 45% of it. Its 79.6% on time is 2 points worse than the route as a whole, which runs 81.4%. Ranked by on-time rate it is last of four carriers on the route, where the range runs from Hawaiian at 85.9% to American at 79.6%. Two of those carriers flew fewer than 365 flights here, so treat their positions as rough.
Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample | 184 | 85.9% | 147 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 365 | 82.0% | 37 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 181 | 81.7% | 59 min | 0.55% | B+ |
| American Airlines (this page) | 587 | 79.6% | 78 min | 0.17% | B+ |
Flight by flight
American flight numbers on PHX to HNL
Departure window
When American runs best on this route
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 14 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am9 flights—
- 8am–11am217 flights83.9%
- 11am–2pm244 flights80.3%
- 2pm–5pm117 flights69.9%
- 5pm–8pm—
- 8pm–5am—
Scale runs 60% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the morning departure. Flights leaving between 8am–11am arrive on time 83.9% of the time, against 69.9% for the afternoon window. That is 14 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 244 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
American on PHX to HNL through the year
November is the best month on the calendar at 93.3% on time. Shoulder season thins the schedule and takes the summer weather with it, and the operation gets its margin back. March was the busiest month here, with 62 flights.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 87.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 74.4%. 13 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Delay causes
Why American runs late on this route
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 51% of the 9,180 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.
- 51%Carrier
- 32%Late-arriving aircraft
- 18%National Airspace System
The largest share of delay minutes, 51%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 4,675 of the 9,180 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 9,180 reported delay minutes.
The practical consequence: the 8am–11am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 83.9% on time here.
Cancellations are rare at 0.17%, below the national 1.81% 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.
Connections and stage length
What a delay here costs
6.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.1%. 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.
At 2,917 miles this is transcontinental flying, and long routes get a quiet structural advantage. Scheduled block time on a flight this length carries more padding in absolute minutes, so a twenty-minute late departure often still becomes an on-time arrival. Read the on-time rate here as slightly flattering next to a short-haul route with the same operational quality.
The return leg is a different operation and performs like one: it runs 85.5% on time across 587 flights, 6 points above this direction. Departure banks, aircraft rotations and the congestion at each end all differ, so scoring the two directions together would average away a real 6 points of difference.
One caution: this is a thin sample. 587 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor but not enough to pin the rate down tightly, and a single bad week moves it by more than a point. Treat the grade as a rough reading.
What to do with this
Booking American on PHX to HNL
Put together: treat all of this as provisional. 587 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor and not enough to be confident to better than a couple of points. The 79.6% headline is the most reliable number on the page; the hour and month splits below it are built on a few dozen flights each. 578 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Related
Where to go next
- PHX to HNL, every carrier
- American on HNL to PHX, the return leg
- Hawaiian Airlines on PHX to HNL85.9%
- Southwest Airlines on PHX to HNL82.0%
- Alaska Airlines on PHX to HNL81.7%
- American Airlines network-wide record
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX) delay statistics
- Daniel K. Inouye International (HNL) delay statistics
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.04 million flight records
- Worst months to fly in the US, ranked by the data
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.