Route profile
JFK→PDX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New York to Portland, 2,454 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 26% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,956 flights. How this is calculated
JFK → PDX arrives on time 75.1% of the time; the return trip, PDX → JFK, arrives on time 82.3% of the time, a 7.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
JFK → PDX spends 39.0 minutes on the ground on a 2,454-mile trip: 33.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at JFK and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at PDX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 95% of 5,368 comparable routes.
73.6% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 73.3% 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 route with the same kind of figure and at least 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where JFK to PDX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
JFK to PDX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 11 AM: 86.0% arrive on time, 8.3 points ahead of the 77.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
JFK to PDX struggles most at 6 PM: 62.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.6 points behind the 68.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.
Thursday is the day JFK to PDX slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.1% on time where they average 77.2%, 6.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.7 points.
In March, JFK to PDX runs 13.1 points below routes of similar length, 66.0% on time to 79.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on JFK to PDX arrive on time 77.1% of the time, 4.1 points below the 81.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
JFK to PDX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +8.3 pts | 314 here, 47,787 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 62.7% | routes of similar length | 68.3% | −5.6 pts | 306 here, 59,523 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 71.1% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | −6.1 pts | 415 here, 151,325 there |
| Month: March | 66.0% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | −13.1 pts | 188 here, 81,919 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 77.1% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | −4.1 pts | 1,649 here, 202,848 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 2,454 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.
Why JFK → PDX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
JFK → PDX cancelled 59 of 2,956 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 50. The reason filed most often was the airline, 54.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 92 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 59 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
32 cancellations, 54.2% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
19 cancellations, 32.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
8 cancellations, 13.6% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
59 coded cancellations were recorded on JFK → PDX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
54 min late
against a median of 7 min early
JFK → PDX has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 7 min early, but the worst tenth are 61 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 2,956 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PDX after arriving from JFK.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.5% | Some 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 2.00% of the time and diverts 0.27% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,889 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 54 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,956 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
JFK → PDX flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 87.5% of the time, against 68.6% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 18.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 84.5% on time from 495 flights
- 9 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 86.0% on time from 318 flights
- 12 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 68.5% on time from 684 flights
- 6 PM: 62.7% on time from 313 flights
- 7 PM: 71.3% on time from 541 flights
- 8 PM: 77.3% on time from 437 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why JFK → PDX runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 JFK → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 1,678 | 77.1% | 1.43% | -8 min | 7.8% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,124 | 75.4% | 2.67% | -7 min | 8.8% |
Delta Air Lines flew 59.9% of the 2,802 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 2.67% of its flights here against 1.43% for Delta Air Lines.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.3%
- Feb: 79.1%
- Mar: 66.0%
- Apr: 74.6%
- May: 77.0%
- Jun: 65.8%
- Jul: 69.8%
- Aug: 76.1%
- Sep: 82.4%
- Oct: 79.7%
- Nov: 79.4%
- Dec: 72.1%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 62.7% from 124 flights
- August 2023: too few flights to score (110)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (110)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (112)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (63)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (61)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (66)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (68)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (56)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (66)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (62)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (56)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (60)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (93)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.6% against 73.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,956 JFK → PDX 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