Route profile
HOU→AUS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Austin, 148 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 66% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,688 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
HOU → AUS arrives on time 77.5% of the time; the return trip, AUS → HOU, arrives on time 75.7% of the time.
HOU → AUS spends 19.9 minutes on the ground on a 148-mile trip: 13.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HOU and 6.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at AUS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 94% of 4,467 comparable routes.
85.4% on time on a typical Tuesday, against 70.2% on a Sunday.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where HOU to AUS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HOU to AUS struggles most at 3 PM: 64.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 16.1 points behind the 80.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
HOU to AUS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 AM: 93.4% arrive on time, 6.3 points ahead of the 87.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
Sunday is the day HOU to AUS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.2% on time where they average 76.9%, 6.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
In May, HOU to AUS runs 10.9 points below routes of similar length, 66.2% on time to 77.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
August is kinder to HOU to AUS than to routes of similar length: 83.0% on time against 78.1%, 4.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
HOU to AUS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 64.5% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −16.1 pts | 296 here, 3,764 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 93.4% | routes of similar length | 87.1% | +6.3 pts | 137 here, 9,104 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 70.2% | routes of similar length | 76.9% | −6.7 pts | 729 here, 16,791 there |
| Month: May | 66.2% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | −10.9 pts | 385 here, 9,600 there |
| Month: August | 83.0% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +4.9 pts | 407 here, 9,850 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 148 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
39 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 4,688 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at AUS after arriving from HOU.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.3% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 0.60% of the time and diverts 0.06% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,657 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,688 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HOU → AUS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.5% of the time, against 66.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 25.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 93.4% on time from 138 flights
- 8 AM: 91.1% on time from 692 flights
- 9 AM: 90.8% on time from 197 flights
- 10 AM: 86.8% on time from 479 flights
- 11 AM: 85.1% on time from 277 flights
- 12 PM: 80.8% on time from 156 flights
- 1 PM: 75.1% on time from 237 flights
- 2 PM: 70.3% on time from 292 flights
- 3 PM: 64.5% on time from 296 flights
- 4 PM: 64.4% on time from 163 flights
- 5 PM: 71.7% on time from 139 flights
- 6 PM: 75.3% on time from 175 flights
- 7 PM: 74.4% on time from 180 flights
- 8 PM: 70.9% on time from 403 flights
- 9 PM: 72.4% on time from 449 flights
- 10 PM: 62.4% on time from 414 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why HOU → AUS runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
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 HOU → AUS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on HOU → AUS, at 49.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.5% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 66.2%.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,688 | 77.5% | 0.60% | -4 min | 6.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 15.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.2%
- Feb: 86.8%
- Mar: 78.4%
- Apr: 76.3%
- May: 66.2%
- Jun: 66.4%
- Jul: 69.5%
- Aug: 83.0%
- Sep: 84.9%
- Oct: 78.5%
- Nov: 78.7%
- Dec: 77.5%
May is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 20.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.4% from 145 flights
- August 2023: 85.0% from 147 flights
- September 2023: 80.0% from 146 flights
- October 2023: 75.9% from 160 flights
- November 2023: 87.6% from 145 flights
- December 2023: 77.3% from 150 flights
- January 2024: 74.3% from 143 flights
- February 2024: 87.2% from 133 flights
- March 2024: 81.1% from 148 flights
- April 2024: 75.8% from 149 flights
- May 2024: 63.8% from 154 flights
- June 2024: 73.3% from 131 flights
- July 2024: 63.7% from 130 flights
- August 2024: 84.3% from 121 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2024: 84.3% from 121 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- March 2025: 84.4% from 131 flights
- April 2025: 84.4% from 128 flights
- May 2025: 72.0% from 132 flights
- June 2025: 65.6% from 129 flights
- July 2025: 61.8% from 131 flights
- August 2025: 79.9% from 139 flights
- September 2025: 85.3% from 136 flights
- October 2025: 76.4% from 144 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- January 2026: 87.8% from 142 flights
- February 2026: 88.0% from 125 flights
- March 2026: too few flights to score (112)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (98)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (102)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (90)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.0% against 79.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,688 HOU → AUS flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed