FlyerIntel Research
Original aviation analysis
Every report here is computed from FlyerIntel’s own database of individual flight records — not summarized from someone else’s findings. Each states its method, its source period and its limitations, and is regenerated whenever new data lands.
50 reports, all drawn from the same records over July 2023 – July 2026 — 21,708,321 individual flights. Because they share one dataset and one method, a figure in one report can be set beside a figure in another without adjusting for anything.
All reports
Newest first. A report is republished, not superseded, when a new month of data lands, so the URL and its findings stay in step.
Which Airlines Cancel the Most in Winter
PSA Airlines cancelled 5.37% of its flights in December to February, PSA Airlines had the widest gap from its own other months.
Published October 18, 2026
The Worst Month Each Airline Had
Alaska Airlines cancelled 17.55% of its flights in January 2024, the highest monthly rate for any airline listed.
Published October 18, 2026
What Causes Delay at Big and Small Airports
Late aircraft is 39.5% of delay minutes at the largest third of airports and 42.2% at the smallest.
Published October 18, 2026
Regional and Mainline Delay Causes
69.3% of regional delay minutes are carrier or late-aircraft delay, against 75.3% for mainline carriers.
Published October 18, 2026
Which Weekday Cancels the Fewest Flights
Wednesday has the lowest cancellation rate at 1.11%, and it is the lowest at airports of every size.
Published October 18, 2026
Do Bigger Airports Run Later
The largest third of covered airports had a departure delay rate 3.8 points higher than the smallest third.
Published October 18, 2026
Which Months Have the Longest Customs Lines
December has the largest share of arriving passengers waiting more than an hour at US passport control, 5.91%; June the smallest, 3.45%.
Published October 17, 2026
Which Months Cancel the Most Flights
January has the highest cancellation rate of the year at 3.78%, October the lowest at 0.62%.
Published October 17, 2026
How Much of Each Season’s Lateness Is Weather
Most of the points the worst season loses against the best are lost in hours with no bad weather at the departure airport.
Published October 12, 2026
Same City, Different Airport
Most cities have airports within a few points of each other in how often flights leave late, and the same airline does not reliably keep the order between them.
Published October 12, 2026
Weather Handling and Late-Aircraft Recovery
An airport’s record in bad weather says very little about how much time it gives back after a late landing.
Published October 12, 2026
What a Night on the Ground Does for a Late Aircraft
After a long stay on the ground a late landing barely reaches the next flight, and how much it does depends on the airport.
Published October 12, 2026
Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns
The airports with the best on-time record in clear weather are not the ones with the best record when it turns.
Published October 12, 2026
Which Flight Numbers Pay for a Late Aircraft
The flight numbers whose aircraft arrive late most often are mostly not the ones that leave late because of it.
Published October 12, 2026
Where a Late Aircraft Gets Its Time Back
After an aircraft lands 30 or more minutes late, how many of those minutes are made up before the next flight leaves, airport by airport.
Published October 12, 2026
The Day After the Holiday
Every day around the five holiday windows, set against ordinary days of the same weekday in the same season.
Published October 12, 2026
Cancel Early or Run Late
In bad weather an airline can cancel more and run closer to schedule, or cancel less and land late. The data shows which airlines did which.
Published October 12, 2026
Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns
Each airline’s bad-weather cancellations, set against what the other airlines did at the same airports in the same months.
Published October 12, 2026
After the Weather Clears
Cancellations and delays at an airport stay above normal for more than 24 hours after the weather itself has gone, and the delay travels with the aircraft.
Published October 12, 2026
When the Weather Is at the Other End
Flights that leave a clear airport for one in bad weather are cancelled 3.1 times as often as flights at the same airport in clear weather.
Published October 12, 2026
How Far a Late Start Travels
An aircraft whose first flight of the day leaves late is still more likely to leave late on its sixth flight, even against aircraft at the same airport in the same hour.
Published October 12, 2026
How Fast an Aircraft Turns When It Has To
When an aircraft lands late, the median time it spends at the gate falls to 66 minutes on schedules that gave it 90 minutes to 3 hours.
Published October 12, 2026
What Weather Costs Each Airport
Hourly weather at 64 airports, matched to every scheduled departure.
Published September 27, 2026
What a Late Aircraft Costs the Next Flight
Following the same aircraft from one flight to the next shows how often a delay is passed on, and how much the ground time in the schedule changes that.
Published September 27, 2026
Flying Got Worse Outside Summer
On-time arrival fell 1.7 points in two years. Summer ended where it began; winter and fall did not.
Published September 26, 2026
Two Airlines on One Route
Compared in the same departure windows, two airlines on a route still differ by about five points, and the difference lasts.
Published September 26, 2026
How Often Flights Leave Early
More than half of flights leave the gate before their scheduled time. How early depends on the airline, the airport and how full the system is.
Published September 26, 2026
What Is Left After a Cancellation
Busy and thin routes cancel at about the same rate. What waits behind a cancelled flight is very different.
Published September 26, 2026
The Least Reliable Hour of the Week
Time of day matters far more than the day of the week, but the two compound. The gap between the best and worst weekday grows through the day.
Published September 26, 2026
How Long a Layover Needs to Be
The time to reach the next gate is fixed. The margin against a late inbound flight depends on the airport, the route and the hour the flight lands.
Published September 26, 2026
Which Airlines Hold Up Late in the Day
Every airline is more punctual in the morning than in the evening. How much worse the evening gets depends on which carrier is flying you.
Published September 26, 2026
The Red-Eye Recovery
On-time performance falls for most of the day. Then, well after the evening rush, it turns around, and the last flights of the night beat the ones a few hours before them.
Published September 23, 2026
Thanksgiving 2026 Flight Delays: Past Years
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the Sunday after, measured every year FlyerIntel has data for, as a guide to what the corridor has historically looked like heading into Thanksgiving 2026.
Published September 15, 2026
Why Airlines Cancel Flights
Every covered carrier's cancellations, split by the four cause codes airlines file with the DOT.
Published September 14, 2026
The Holiday Travel Penalty Is Smaller Than It Looks
Thanksgiving, the Christmas-to-New-Year run, the Fourth of July, and the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, measured against every other day in FlyerIntel’s data.
Published September 5, 2026
Nobody Flies on an Average Day
Every cancellation rate published in America, including the one on this site, is the average of a distribution with almost nothing in the middle of it.
Published September 2, 2026
Making Up Time in the Air
Every American airline schedule contains minutes that are not flying. The flight that needs them most is the one that gets fewest of them back.
Published September 1, 2026
The First Flight of the Day
The earliest departures are the most punctual flights in America, and among the more likely not to happen at all. Both come from the same records. Only one of them gets published.
Published September 1, 2026
Wheels Down, Still Late
Every American on-time statistic is measured at the gate, not at the runway. The minutes in between belong to nobody, and nobody publishes them.
Published September 1, 2026
Where Flights Do Not Land
A diversion is not a delay. It is arriving at a different airport altogether, and some places and some routes are far more prone to it than travelers expect.
Published August 31, 2026
When to Land to Shorten Your US Customs Wait
Your airline chooses which US arrival hall you land in. You can often choose when, and inside a single hall that is worth more than most travelers would guess.
Published August 30, 2026
Taxi Time: The Ground Tax on Every Flight
Travelers budget for flight time and ignore the time spent on the ground at each end. On flights under 500 miles between major US airports, 30.1% of the scheduled trip is spent on the ground with the wheels turning.
Published August 30, 2026
The Same Airport, Different Airlines
Airport reliability tables treat a field as one thing. Ask which carrier you are flying and the picture changes completely.
Published August 30, 2026
Most and Least Reliable Flight Numbers
Two flights can leave the same airport for the same city on the same day and arrive on time at wildly different rates. The number on the ticket is not decoration.
Published August 30, 2026
The Delay You Inherit
Most delay is not created by your flight. It arrives with the aircraft, and it accumulates all day.
Published August 30, 2026
How Long US Customs Actually Takes
Two years of federal records for every major US arrival hall show that the queue you join depends on the passport you carry.
Published August 30, 2026
The Best Major Airports for a Tight Connection
Where an inbound flight is most likely to land on time, and how long you then spend taxiing before the clock really starts.
Published August 30, 2026
The Best and Worst Days of the Week to Fly
The difference between the best and worst weekday is smaller than the difference between morning and evening, but it is real, and it is free.
Published August 30, 2026
Airports Where Weather Hurts Reliability Most
Every airport blames the weather. The data shows how much of the delay it actually explains.
Published August 30, 2026
Who Actually Flies Your Mainline Ticket
A large share of flights sold under a major airline brand are operated by a different company entirely, and they do not perform the same way.
Published August 30, 2026
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Each report carries its own sources, method and limitations. Full methodology · Data sources
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