PHL Airport: 76.2% on time, worst at 7 PM

PHL right now

Live conditions where a permitted source publishes them, and the historical record where none does.

No disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Departures at this hour

90.3% leave on time

05:00–05:59 local · 8,570 departures on record

Typical taxi out17 min

Median arrival13 min early

Cancelled2.0%

When flights run late in this hour, most of the delay is attributed to the airline.

Historical pattern for PHL from US DOT BTS — not a live reading.

Aviation weatherVFR

42°F · wind 10 kt

Minimal operational impact. Conditions are not a notable factor for operations right now.

Updated 08:54 UTC

Forecast issued 08:40Z.

Updated 08:40 UTC

Aircraft seen now

On the field0

Airborne within 15 NM0

Departed in the last hour0

Arrived in the last hour0

Below 10,000 ft, so aircraft overflying at cruise are not counted. These are observations, not an operational status: a count is a floor, since receiver coverage varies and a movement between two samples can be missed.

Updated 09:05 UTC

Aircraft observations from ADSB.lol (opens in a new tab) (Katia Esposito and contributing feeders), under the ODbL 1.0 (opens in a new tab). Derived data.

FlyerIntel shows live values only where a permitted source provides them. Sections without data are left empty rather than estimated.

Airport reliability

Departures from PHL, July 2023 – July 2026.

Airport Reliability Score

53/ 100Fair

Better than 12% of major US airports covered by FlyerIntel (64 compared)

Calculated from 305,181 flights. How this is calculated

Departures arriving on time

76.2%

226,981 of 297,771 completed

Cancellation rate

2.16%

6,595 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-7 min

Average 9.9 min

Severe delays

9.7%

Arrived 60+ minutes late

Delay when late

81 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Departures analyzed

305,181

305,143 arrivals

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What stands out

How this airport compares to others like it, not just to itself.

This airport has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 97% of 328 comparable airports.

75.6% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 75.5% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other airport with the same kind of figure and at least 328 in the comparison.

Why flights are cancelled at PHL

Every cancellation carries a reason code filed by the airline that operated the flight. Departures, July 2023 – July 2026.

Extreme weather accounts for 72.1% of cancelled departures from PHL — about 1 in every 64 scheduled departures. That is 13 points higher than the 59.5% recorded across every airport FlyerIntel covers.

Share of cancellations

Weather72.1%

Airline19.0%

Air traffic8.9%

Security0.0%

Of 6,595 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 64

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

4,754 cancellations, 72.1% of the total.

The airline1 in 244

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

1,252 cancellations, 19.0% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 518

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

589 cancellations, 8.9% of the total.

Security—

A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.

0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.

6,595 of 305,181 scheduled departures from PHL were cancelled. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

By carrier

Cancellation causes by carrier at PHL
Carrier	Cancelled	Rate	Airline	Weather	Air traffic	Security
American Airlines AA	2,724	1.94%	9%	84%	6%	0%
PSA Airlines OH	1,492	3.52%	13%	78%	9%	0%
Frontier Airlines F9	877	2.69%	47%	53%	0%	0%
Republic Airways YX	550	2.29%	5%	61%	34%	0%

Shares are of each carrier’s own coded cancellations at PHL and run across the row, so they total 100%. “Rate” is cancellations as a share of that carrier’s scheduled departures here. Two carriers on the same runways in the same weather can file very different splits, so read this as what each airline reported about itself, not as a ranking of fault. Carriers below the published minimum of coded cancellations are not listed.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026 · Reason codes are each airline’s own filing, not an independent finding of fault. Shown for airports with at least 500 coded cancellations; 6,595 were recorded at PHL.

Why flights run late at PHL

Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on departures from PHL.

Late-arriving aircraft43.6%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline30.0%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control21.0%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather5.3%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for departures from PHL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Of the 52,840 departures from PHL that left 15 or more minutes late and have a known inbound aircraft, 57% followed a flight that landed 15 or more minutes late. The other 43% left late even though the aircraft had come in on time or early. Across the 64 covered airports that share runs from 47% to 73%, with a median of 62%; PHL’s is the 21st lowest.

The late flight is the one the same aircraft flew into PHL just before, found from the tail number in the DOT file. Airlines and hours differ from one airport to the next, so this describes the departures from PHL and does not rate the airport.

An airport is only partly the author of its own delays. Late-arriving aircraft describes the national schedule arriving here more than anything about this airfield. Air traffic control covers airspace and airport capacity, which is where a congested airport shows up; only the airline category sits squarely inside the carriers’ own operation. How differently they run it is further down this page.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What weather costs at PHL

Departures from PHL by the weather at the airport in the hour they were scheduled to leave, July 2023 – July 2026.

10.5% of scheduled departures from PHL left in an hour of bad weather. 6.5% of them were cancelled, against 1.5% in normal conditions, and 64.3% of the ones that flew arrived on time, against 78.2%. Those hours held 32% of all cancelled departures. That is about 1,601 more cancellations than the normal-conditions rate would give.

Cancellations were highest in thunderstorm hours: 22.4% of 3,775 departures, 14.7 times the normal rate.

Airlines filed 72% of PHL’s coded cancellations under extreme weather. By the weather at the airport in the scheduled hour, 32% of cancelled departures were in bad-weather hours. A code is the airline’s stated reason and an hour’s weather is what the airport reported, so the two need not match.

By weather

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Cancellation and on-time rates at PHL by the weather at the airport in the scheduled departure hour
Weather at the airport	Departures	Cancelled	Left on time	Arrived on time	Avg. departure delay
Normal conditionsVFR with no thunderstorm, snow or ice, fog, heavy rain or high wind	244,67480.2% of all	1.5%	78.4%	78.2%	14.5 min
Any bad weatherIFR or LIFR, or a thunderstorm, snow or ice, fog, heavy rain or high wind	32,03810.5% of all	6.5%4.3 times normal	70.9%	64.3%13.9 points below normal	26.0 min
MVFRceiling 1,000 to 3,000 feet or visibility 3 to 5 miles	31,02010.2% of all	3.7%2.4 times normal	73.0%	69.8%8.4 points below normal	21.4 min
IFRceiling 500 to 999 feet or visibility 1 to under 3 miles	16,2275.3% of all	5.0%3.3 times normal	73.6%	67.4%10.8 points below normal	22.3 min
LIFRceiling under 500 feet or visibility under 1 mile	5,9121.9% of all	6.5%4.3 times normal	75.5%	68.8%9.4 points below normal	20.9 min
Thunderstorma thunderstorm reported at the airport	3,7751.2% of all	22.4%14.7 times normal	35.8%	24.0%54.2 points below normal	84.0 min
Snow or icesnow, snow grains, ice pellets, freezing rain or freezing drizzle	3,3691.1% of all	22.2%14.6 times normal	63.3%	30.6%47.6 points below normal	40.8 min
Fogfog or freezing fog reported at the airport	9860.3% of all	2.2%	82.0%	74.0%4.2 points below normal	17.6 min
Heavy rainheavy rain reported at the airport	2,1290.7% of all	11.7%7.7 times normal	51.7%	43.5%34.7 points below normal	53.8 min
High windwind of 25 knots or more, or gusts of 30 knots or more	6,5142.1% of all	6.3%4.1 times normal	68.0%	64.9%13.3 points below normal	27.7 min
Low ceilinga broken or overcast layer under 1,000 feet	19,2426.3% of all	3.7%2.4 times normal	76.7%	71.6%6.6 points below normal	17.4 min
Low visibilityvisibility under 3 miles	9,9913.3% of all	8.9%5.9 times normal	70.8%	61.1%17.1 points below normal	28.6 min

A departure is counted in every row its hour fits, so the rows overlap and do not add up. Left on time is a departure under 15 minutes late, and arrived on time an arrival under 15 minutes late; cancelled is the share of scheduled departures. Rows with fewer than 120 departures are not scored.

This is the weather reported at PHL in the hour a flight was scheduled to leave. It leaves out the weather at the destination and on the way, weather that arrived after the scheduled time, and anything else that goes wrong in a bad hour. An hour takes the worst conditions any report in it gave. Weather was matched to 100.0% of the airport’s scheduled departures; the rest left in hours with no report, or at a scheduled time the flight records cannot place exactly. Bad-weather hours are compared with normal hours at the same airport, not with what the same flights would have done in a clear sky: they also fall more often in some seasons and at some times of day.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records and Iowa Environmental Mesonet weather reports · July 2023 – July 2026 · Where the weather comes from, and its limits. All covered airports side by side: What Weather Costs Each Airport.

Which airlines hold up in bad weather at PHL

Cancellations by airline in hours of bad weather at PHL, against the other carriers in the same months, July 2023 – July 2026.

11% of the weather-matched departures from PHL left in an hour of bad weather at the airport. 6.5% of them were cancelled. That is 4.3 times the 1.5% in normal hours. No one carrier holds most of them; 8 airlines have enough to compare.

Compared with the other carriers at PHL in the same months, Southwest Airlines (2.8% cancelled against 6.4% for the others; below them in normal hours too) cancelled the fewest in bad weather and PSA Airlines (10.7% cancelled against 6.5% for the others; above them in normal hours too) the most. 3 more airlines are also clearly apart from the others.

Airlines in bad weather at PHL

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Cancellation rates by airline in hours of bad weather at PHL, against the other carriers in the same months and against the airline's own normal hours
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
Southwest Airlines	1,6825% of bad-weather	2.8%below the others	6.4%	0.6%others 1.5%
United Airlines	1,3914% of bad-weather	3.2%below the others	6.2%	0.8%others 1.5%
Delta Air Lines	2,0877% of bad-weather	4.0%below the others	6.7%	1.1%others 1.6%
Spirit Airlines	1,3524% of bad-weather	5.1%	5.9%	1.7%others 1.3%
American Airlines	14,28145% of bad-weather	6.4%	6.8%	1.3%others 1.7%
Frontier Airlines	3,60311% of bad-weather	6.5%	6.2%	2.1%others 1.4%
Republic Airways	2,5858% of bad-weather	7.7%above the others	6.2%	1.5%others 1.5%
PSA Airlines	4,34614% of bad-weather	10.7%above the others	6.5%	2.5%others 1.5%

Best first. The other carriers’ column applies their rate in each month to the airline’s own departures, so a stormy month is not held against it; the normal-hours column gives the same pair outside bad weather.

The 8 listed airlines flew 98% of the bad-weather departures at PHL; a carrier under 500 is not listed. The comparison does not hold the hour of the day, the destination or the aircraft fixed, and a gap counts as clear only at 2 standard errors and 0.3 points. Republic Airways and PSA Airlines fly for mainline airlines and are counted as carriers of their own here, though they share the airport’s gates, its de-icing and often its decisions to cancel.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records and Iowa Environmental Mesonet weather reports · July 2023 – July 2026 · Where the weather comes from, and its limits. All covered airports side by side: What Weather Costs Each Airport.

Turning aircraft around at PHL

Time on the ground between one flight and the next of the same aircraft at PHL, and what a late arrival does to the next departure, July 2023 – July 2026.

The median turn at PHL is scheduled for 65 minutes on the ground and takes 72 minutes, against 56 minutes and 63 minutes across all airports. Aircraft are given longer on the ground here than at the typical airport. The 7 minutes by which the typical turn runs over its schedule are about what it is across all airports.

When the aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late (44,007 turns here, 61 minutes late on average), 74% of the turns were finished in no more than the scheduled ground time, against 68% across all airports. 64% of those flights left 15 or more minutes late, against 72%. After an aircraft that landed on time, 11% did (all airports 11%).

Given the turn lengths scheduled here, the network’s rates would give 75% finished in the schedule and 64% leaving late. At these turn lengths PHL looks like the network on both counts: late turns are finished in the schedule, and lateness passed on, about as often as elsewhere. 42% of its late-inbound turns had a scheduled turn of 60 to 89 minutes, against 29% across all airports.

Turns at PHL against all airports

220,626 turns, July 2023 – July 2026

Aircraft turns at PHL against all airports: scheduled and actual time on the ground and what a late inbound aircraft does
Measure	PHL	All airports	All airports, same turn lengths
Median scheduled turn	65 min	56 min	—
Median actual turn	72 min	63 min	—
Turns that began with an aircraft 15+ minutes late	20%	19%	—
Late turns finished within the schedule	74%	68%	75%
Late inbound that left 15+ minutes late	64%	72%	64%
On-time inbound that left 15+ minutes late	11%	11%	—

The last column is the network’s rate at the turn lengths scheduled at PHL, band by band from under 30 minutes to 3 to 6 hours. A turn finishes within the schedule when the aircraft spent no more time on the ground than the schedule gave it.

A turn pairs an aircraft’s landing at PHL with its next departure from it by tail number; the aircraft is never named. These 220,626 turns are 72% of the flights that left PHL in the period; the rest are an aircraft’s first flight after a long stay, flights without a usable inbound, and cancelled flights. Ground time runs from the gate. Turns under 30 minutes are kept, but most leave late even after an on-time landing. Airlines set their own turn schedules, so this describes the airlines that fly at PHL and does not rate the airport.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records · July 2023 – July 2026 · Airports side by side: Where a Late Aircraft Gets Its Time Back.

What sets PHL apart

Where PHL’s hours, months, airlines and taxi time differ most from the other airports, July 2023 – July 2026.

11 PM is where PHL falls furthest behind the rest: 66.8% of its 11 PM departures arrive on time, 12.2 points below the 79.0% for that hour elsewhere.

August is PHL’s hardest month against the field, 71.6% on time to 76.8% elsewhere, 5.2 points short.

JetBlue does better out of PHL than anywhere else it flies: 75.4% on time here, 72.5% on its other departures, 2.9 points apart.

Alaska Airlines’ departures from PHL arrive on time 69.7% of the time, 9.2 points worse than the 78.9% the same airline manages at its other airports.

Departing aircraft spend 21.4 minutes on average between pushback and takeoff at PHL, 2.8 minutes more than the 18.6 minutes at the other airports.

PHL against the other airports

July 2023 – July 2026

Where PHL differs most from the other covered airports, with the flights behind each figure
Measure	PHL	Elsewhere	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 11 PM departures	66.8%	79.0%	−12.2 pts	386 here, 173,669 elsewhere
Month: August	71.6%	76.8%	−5.2 pts	26,890 here, 1,446,945 elsewhere
Airline: JetBlue	75.4%	72.5%	+2.9 pts	3,686 here, 722,628 elsewhere
Airline: Alaska Airlines	69.7%	78.9%	−9.2 pts	2,019 here, 799,058 elsewhere
Taxi-out: Departures	21.4 min	18.6 min	+2.8 min	299,160 here, 17,330,949 elsewhere

"Elsewhere" is every other covered airport together, taken from the same aggregates as this page with PHL’s own flights removed (for airlines, that airline’s flights from all its other airports). Hours, months and airlines appear only where both sides have at least 120 completed flights (airlines 500) and the gap is at least 2 points and 2 standard errors; only the largest gap in each direction is shown. The taxi figure is weighted by departures and has no error estimate, so it appears from 2 minutes.

Best time to fly from PHL

On-time arrival rate by scheduled local departure time: each weekday and hour, and averaged over the week.

Flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.7% of the time, against 65.7% for 6–9 PM departures — a gap of 20.0 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time.

Tuesday 5–6 AM was the most reliable slot at PHL (91.3% on time, 1,024 flights) and Thursday 7–8 PM the least (59.3%, 3,707 flights).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 7.9 points from the airport-wide rate, weekday averages 2.6 points.

On-time arrival rate at PHL by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Most reliable slot
Least reliable slot

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

Best and worst slots are named only among slots with 500+ flights, and only when the gap is larger than sampling error. Departures before 5 AM and after 11 PM (406 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday at PHL. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM	89.2% on time1,375 flights	91.3% on time1,024 flights	90.4% on time1,035 flights	90.2% on time1,339 flights	89.7% on time1,407 flights	87.1% on time1,104 flights	85.7% on time1,286 flights
6 AM–7 AM	86.2% on time2,773 flights	89.1% on time2,609 flights	88.3% on time2,585 flights	89.4% on time2,812 flights	86.4% on time2,809 flights	84.1% on time2,611 flights	85.6% on time2,817 flights
7 AM–8 AM	83.3% on time1,885 flights	86.7% on time1,644 flights	88.8% on time1,578 flights	86.1% on time1,889 flights	84.8% on time1,841 flights	82.2% on time1,672 flights	82.6% on time1,884 flights
8 AM–9 AM	83.7% on time4,856 flights	86.3% on time4,515 flights	87.4% on time4,567 flights	83.4% on time4,761 flights	83.3% on time4,819 flights	81.9% on time4,103 flights	83.7% on time4,683 flights
9 AM–10 AM	81.1% on time1,826 flights	84.0% on time1,757 flights	86.0% on time1,741 flights	80.0% on time1,846 flights	81.5% on time1,807 flights	82.8% on time1,624 flights	82.7% on time1,727 flights
10 AM–11 AM	82.4% on time4,114 flights	86.5% on time3,882 flights	88.1% on time3,937 flights	83.6% on time4,071 flights	81.0% on time4,144 flights	84.2% on time3,955 flights	83.7% on time4,083 flights
11 AM–12 PM	78.4% on time2,306 flights	82.8% on time2,146 flights	85.7% on time2,137 flights	80.2% on time2,359 flights	77.2% on time2,357 flights	79.5% on time2,115 flights	78.6% on time2,344 flights
12 PM–1 PM	78.2% on time1,719 flights	82.1% on time1,461 flights	84.4% on time1,536 flights	78.7% on time1,652 flights	74.9% on time1,705 flights	77.1% on time1,470 flights	76.0% on time1,670 flights
1 PM–2 PM	75.5% on time3,042 flights	81.4% on time2,678 flights	82.6% on time2,749 flights	76.9% on time3,019 flights	74.4% on time3,013 flights	74.7% on time2,448 flights	73.4% on time2,976 flights
2 PM–3 PM	72.6% on time1,679 flights	79.6% on time1,646 flights	79.8% on time1,651 flights	74.2% on time1,669 flights	74.0% on time1,711 flights	72.7% on time1,667 flights	73.5% on time1,717 flights
3 PM–4 PM	72.9% on time3,244 flights	77.0% on time3,202 flights	75.6% on time3,218 flights	68.7% on time3,278 flights	70.9% on time3,255 flights	74.1% on time2,996 flights	70.1% on time3,329 flights
4 PM–5 PM	67.5% on time1,910 flights	73.8% on time1,738 flights	74.1% on time1,740 flights	66.6% on time1,833 flights	68.9% on time1,925 flights	69.2% on time1,729 flights	67.3% on time1,886 flights
5 PM–6 PM	65.5% on time2,291 flights	74.2% on time2,055 flights	72.3% on time2,061 flights	63.9% on time2,236 flights	65.3% on time2,312 flights	65.4% on time2,008 flights	61.7% on time2,219 flights
6 PM–7 PM	65.4% on time4,781 flights	72.1% on time4,203 flights	69.0% on time4,399 flights	62.3% on time4,692 flights	63.9% on time4,747 flights	67.7% on time4,110 flights	62.4% on time4,741 flights
7 PM–8 PM	65.1% on time3,710 flights	74.1% on time3,309 flights	70.3% on time3,268 flights	59.3% on time3,707 flights	62.8% on time3,721 flights	66.9% on time3,238 flights	59.3% on time3,712 flights
8 PM–9 PM	65.5% on time1,703 flights	71.9% on time1,412 flights	70.6% on time1,465 flights	63.8% on time1,687 flights	64.7% on time1,748 flights	65.0% on time1,589 flights	61.9% on time1,847 flights
9 PM–10 PM	72.3% on time2,007 flights	78.5% on time1,577 flights	76.4% on time1,588 flights	69.0% on time1,922 flights	70.4% on time1,992 flights	72.0% on time1,599 flights	69.6% on time2,026 flights
10 PM–11 PM	65.5% on time388 flights	79.5% on time258 flights	75.2% on time271 flights	65.7% on time364 flights	70.8% on time418 flights	73.6% on time283 flights	67.5% on time389 flights

By departure window

All days combined

5–9 AM85.7%

9 AM–12 PM82.7%

12–3 PM76.9%

3–6 PM70.1%

6–9 PM65.7%

9 PM–5 AM71.9%

By departure hour

All days combined

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Buckets with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.

International arrivals

How long passport control normally takes here, hour by hour and hall by hall. This is the arrivals queue, not departure security — and it is history, not a live wait.

At Terminal A, PHL’s busiest hall, both passport queues run much the same: a typical 7 min on a US passport and 10 min on any other, rising to 25 min on a busy day. Where the two halls agree like this, CBP’s combined figure of 8 min is a fair summary of both — which is not true everywhere, and is why they are shown apart.

Terminal by terminal, across the day

Terminal by terminal, across the day
Terminal	US passports	US busy day	Other passports	Other busy day	Global Entry
Terminal A	7 min	16 min	10 min	25 min	17.7% of arrivals

US passports — Terminal A

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

US citizens and lawful permanent residents, who use the US-passport lanes.

All other passports — Terminal A

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Every other arriving passenger, including visa and visa-waiver travelers.

Hour by hour — Terminal A

Hour by hour — Terminal A
Cleared in hour	US passports	US busy day	Other passports	Other busy day	Booths open
8 AM–9 AM	17 min	35 min	31 min	47 min	6
9 AM–10 AM	10 min	19 min	21 min	34 min	6
11 AM–12 PM	11 min	24 min	18 min	33 min	7
12 PM–1 PM	6 min	11 min	10 min	20 min	9
1 PM–2 PM	6 min	10 min	9 min	16 min	11
2 PM–3 PM	5 min	8 min	7 min	14 min	13
3 PM–4 PM	7 min	13 min	10 min	22 min	13
4 PM–5 PM	9 min	21 min	13 min	36 min	13
5 PM–6 PM	9 min	24 min	12 min	34 min	12
6 PM–7 PM	7 min	15 min	10 min	21 min	8
7 PM–8 PM	9 min	15 min	11 min	20 min	7
8 PM–9 PM	8 min	13 min	9 min	17 min	6
9 PM–10 PM	8 min	11 min	9 min	16 min	5

US passports: clearing in the 8 AM–9 AM hour typically takes 17 min, against 5 min in the 2 PM–3 PM hour — 12 min between the slowest and fastest of 13 measured hours.

All other passports: clearing in the 8 AM–9 AM hour typically takes 31 min, against 7 min in the 2 PM–3 PM hour — 24 min between the slowest and fastest of 13 measured hours.

The hour is when CBP processed the passenger, not when the aircraft landed — allow for the walk from the gate. Hours with fewer than 120 days of records are not listed rather than shown as an estimate, which is why a terminal’s quietest hours are usually absent. “Busy day” is the 90th percentile: one arrival in ten is worse than that. Booths are how many CBP had open, and they follow the queue rather than prevent it — the busiest hours are staffed hardest and are still the slowest.

Source: US Customs and Border Protection · 2024-08-28 to 2026-10-16 · These are CBP passport control waits for arriving international passengers — a different queue from TSA departure screening. CBP publishes them about two days in arrears, so every figure here describes what has been typical over 2024-08-28 to 2026-10-16, and none of it is a live queue or a forecast for your flight. US and non-US passengers are reported separately by CBP and are kept separate here, because they are separate halls. FlyerIntel publishes a terminal or an hour only where CBP filed at least 120 hourly records for it, and an hour-by-hour breakdown only where at least 6 hours clear that floor.

What to expect at PHL

How busy the airport is through the day, from scheduled departure volume.

Departures a day

271

Average across the analysis period

Busiest hour

8 AM

About 29 departures

Typical taxi-out

21.4 min

Pushback to wheels-up, on departure

Typical taxi-in

8.2 min

Touchdown to gate, on arrival

Scheduled departures by hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

The busiest hour is 8 AM, with about 29 departures a day, against roughly 10 at 12 PM. That peak is also more punctual than a typical hour here: early banks fly aircraft that spent the night on the ground rather than ones inheriting the day’s delays.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Taxi-out runs from gate to wheels-up, averaged over departures and weighted by hour. Taxi-in runs from touchdown to gate.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon75.2%

Tue80.5%

Wed80.2%

Thu74.5%

Fri74.5%

Sat75.7%

Sun73.6%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.9 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 18.0 percentage points.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026

Airlines at PHL

Departure performance by operating carrier. Regional flights are reported by the carrier that operated them, not by the mainline brand.

Airlines at PHL
Carrier	Departures	On time	Cancelled	Median delay
American Airlines AA	140,148	75.5%	1.94%	-6 min
PSA Airlines OH	42,442	75.3%	3.52%	-7 min
Frontier Airlines F9	32,589	69.0%	2.69%	-4 min
Republic Airways YX	24,019	84.1%	2.29%	-10 min
Delta Air Lines DL	19,179	83.9%	1.47%	-12 min
Southwest Airlines WN	15,428	76.2%	0.91%	-3 min
United Airlines UA	12,832	82.1%	1.11%	-9 min
Spirit Airlines NK	12,110	74.7%	2.18%	-7 min
JetBlue B6	3,786	75.4%	2.38%	-9 min
Alaska Airlines AS	2,049	69.7%	1.32%	-1 min

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Carriers with fewer than 500 departures are not listed.

Routes from PHL

Ranked by FlyerIntel Route Reliability Score.

Most reliable

ATLAtlanta61 CLTCharlotte52 ORDChicago52 BOSBoston52 DFWDallas–Fort Worth51 MCOOrlando45

Least reliable

MCOOrlando45 DFWDallas–Fort Worth51 BOSBoston52 ORDChicago52 CLTCharlotte52 ATLAtlanta61

Busiest routes

Busiest routes from PHL
Destination	Flights	On time	Score
PHL → ATL Atlanta	17,904	78.5%	61
PHL → MCO Orlando	17,467	72.7%	45
PHL → BOS Boston	15,492	76.1%	52
PHL → ORD Chicago	14,166	77.2%	52
PHL → CLT Charlotte	11,585	77.4%	52
PHL → DFW Dallas–Fort Worth	10,727	76.4%	51

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Only routes with at least 10,000 flights are ranked.

See all 12 routes to and from PHL →

Reliability over time

On-time arrival rate for departures, by month.

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), departures from PHL arrived on time 75.6% of the time, against 75.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026

Data and sources

Historical statistics

Every historical figure on this page is calculated by FlyerIntel from US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics on-time performance records covering July 2023 – July 2026, comprising 305,181 departures from PHL. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule.

Full methodology · All data sources

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

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Philadelphia International Airport on-time performance, from FlyerIntel

Updates on its own as new data comes in — paste this once, nothing to maintain.

<a href="https://flyerintel.com/airports/phl/"><img src="https://flyerintel.com/badge/airport/phl/" alt="Philadelphia International Airport on-time performance, from FlyerIntel"></a>

Live conditions

Aviation weather comes from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center. Operational events come from the FAA where available. FlyerIntel shows the age of every live value and does not display data it cannot currently retrieve.

See something wrong? Report it

Latest observation for PHL: METAR KPHL 180854Z 02010KT 10SM CLR 06/M03 A3050 RMK AO2 SLP328 T00561033 53014 $ (issued 08:54 UTC).