Airlines
Every carrier is measured the same way, over the same period, from the same source records. Flights operated by a regional carrier on behalf of a mainline brand are reported by the carrier that actually operated them, which is how the DOT records them.
15 carriers, 21,708,321 flights, July 2023 – July 2026 — 100% of every flight record loaded.
Ranked by reliability
FlyerIntel Airline Reliability Score — on-time arrivals, cancellations, severe delays and how late a late flight actually runs, combined against fixed reference points. July 2023 – July 2026. Components and weights
| Rank | Airline | Score | On time | Cancelled | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HA Hawaiian Airlines | 80 | 83.7% | 1.00% | 199,679 |
| 2 | DL Delta Air Lines | 71 | 82.1% | 1.16% | 3,146,502 |
| 3 | AS Alaska Airlines | 71 | 78.9% | 1.28% | 813,732 |
| 4 | WN Southwest Airlines | 71 | 78.2% | 0.86% | 4,371,639 |
| 5 | 9E Endeavor Air | 70 | 85.1% | 2.30% | 304,230 |
| 6 | UA United Airlines | 66 | 79.7% | 1.21% | 2,418,979 |
| 7 | MQ Envoy Air | 66 | 80.1% | 1.80% | 886,878 |
| 8 | OO SkyWest Airlines | 64 | 80.4% | 1.33% | 2,433,643 |
| 9 | YX Republic Airways | 61 | 82.3% | 3.26% | 1,004,281 |
| 10 | G4 Allegiant Air | 58 | 75.7% | 0.94% | 381,495 |
| 11 | NK Spirit Airlines | 54 | 75.5% | 2.06% | 635,598 |
| 12 | AA American Airlines | 52 | 74.8% | 1.76% | 3,019,376 |
| 13 | B6 JetBlue | 45 | 72.5% | 2.19% | 745,492 |
| 14 | F9 Frontier Airlines | 45 | 71.8% | 2.09% | 629,235 |
| 15 | OH PSA Airlines | 44 | 75.8% | 3.43% | 717,562 |
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026
What separates them
The same three years, the same source, the same definition of late.
Endeavor Air arrives on time 85.1% of the time and Frontier Airlines 71.8% — 13.4 percentage points apart across 21,708,321 flights. On a fortnight of weekly travel that is the difference between arriving late once and arriving late three times.
Punctuality and cancellations are separate risks and do not move together. Southwest Airlines cancels 0.86% of its flights and PSA Airlines 3.43% — a cancelled flight is not a late flight, it is no flight, and it is excluded from every on-time rate on this page rather than counted as a delay. Endeavor Air is the clearest illustration: among the most punctual carriers when it flies, and among the most likely to cancel.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026
Why US flights run late
Every covered carrier's delay minutes, pooled.
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for all covered US carriers. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
The mix differs by carrier, and an individual airline’s share sits on its own page. Read it as a description of where the minutes went, not as a ranking of blame: a carrier flying short hops into congested hubs inherits a different problem from one flying long thin routes, and the categories are assigned by the operating carrier itself.
Source: US DOT BTS delay cause categories · July 2023 – July 2026
Analysis last recomputed