Route profile
JFK→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New York to Pittsburgh, 340 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 15% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,412 flights. How this is calculated
JFK → PIT arrives on time 80.3% of the time; the return trip, PIT → JFK, arrives on time 87.5% of the time, a 7.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair. JFK → PIT also cancels 4.23% of flights, against 2.66% for PIT → JFK.
JFK → PIT spends 36.4 minutes on the ground on a 340-mile trip: 28.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at JFK and 7.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 97% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Endeavor Air arrived on time 87.2% of the time, against 63.8% for JetBlue, flying the exact same route.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where JFK to PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
JFK to PIT struggles most at 9 PM: 53.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.7 points behind the 71.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
JFK to PIT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 85.3% arrive on time, 12.5 points ahead of the 72.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.5 points.
Saturday is the day JFK to PIT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 78.0% on time where they average 82.4%, 4.4 points lower.
In July, JFK to PIT runs 8.6 points below routes of similar length, 64.8% on time to 73.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 4.9 points.
November is kinder to JFK to PIT than to routes of similar length: 87.7% on time against 84.2%, 3.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
JFK to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 53.3% | routes of similar length | 71.0% | −17.7 pts | 199 here, 37,615 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 85.3% | routes of similar length | 72.8% | +12.5 pts | 224 here, 73,858 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 78.0% | routes of similar length | 82.4% | −4.4 pts | 751 here, 135,740 there |
| Month: July | 64.8% | routes of similar length | 73.4% | −8.6 pts | 532 here, 125,380 there |
| Month: November | 87.7% | routes of similar length | 84.2% | +3.5 pts | 457 here, 92,683 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 340 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 → PIT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
JFK → PIT cancelled 229 of 5,412 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 24. The reason filed most often was the air traffic system, 47.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 50 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 229 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
109 cancellations, 47.6% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
69 cancellations, 30.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
51 cancellations, 22.3% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
229 coded cancellations were recorded on JFK → PIT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
52 min late
against a median of 11 min early
JFK → PIT has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 11 min early, but the worst tenth are 63 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 5,412 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from JFK.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.8% | 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 4.23% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,178 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 52 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,412 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
JFK → PIT flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 88.9% of the time, against 63.1% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 25.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 88.0% on time from 433 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 86.7% on time from 200 flights
- 1 PM: 87.5% on time from 558 flights
- 2 PM: 81.3% on time from 1,107 flights
- 3 PM: 81.3% on time from 482 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 85.3% on time from 234 flights
- 6 PM: 78.8% on time from 308 flights
- 7 PM: 75.0% on time from 890 flights
- 8 PM: 82.0% on time from 566 flights
- 9 PM: 53.3% on time from 225 flights
- 10 PM: 70.6% on time from 276 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why JFK → PIT 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 JFK → PIT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on JFK → PIT, at 46.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 88.9% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 63.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 4,062 | 81.7% | 4.33% | -12 min | 8.1% |
| Endeavor Air | 562 | 87.2% | 2.67% | -11 min | 5.7% |
| JetBlue | 547 | 63.8% | 5.85% | 1 min | 17.9% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 241 | 77.4% | 2.49% | -9 min | 8.5% |
Republic Airways flew 75.1% of the 5,412 flights listed. JetBlue cancelled 5.85% of its flights here against 2.49% for SkyWest Airlines.
Endeavor Air arrived on time 23.4 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
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
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.9%
- Feb: 86.1%
- Mar: 83.8%
- Apr: 82.4%
- May: 81.4%
- Jun: 67.8%
- Jul: 64.8%
- Aug: 78.6%
- Sep: 84.6%
- Oct: 86.3%
- Nov: 87.7%
- Dec: 81.2%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 64.9% from 155 flights
- August 2023: 78.8% from 155 flights
- September 2023: 82.6% from 150 flights
- October 2023: 90.3% from 155 flights
- November 2023: 94.5% from 145 flights
- December 2023: 92.5% from 136 flights
- January 2024: 85.8% from 144 flights
- February 2024: 94.5% from 147 flights
- March 2024: 92.2% from 155 flights
- April 2024: 88.2% from 153 flights
- May 2024: 90.2% from 156 flights
- June 2024: 81.6% from 150 flights
- July 2024: 69.9% from 155 flights
- August 2024: 74.5% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 89.3% from 150 flights
- October 2024: 92.9% from 155 flights
- November 2024: 95.2% from 145 flights
- December 2024: 85.6% from 140 flights
- January 2025: 88.2% from 128 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2025: 82.9% from 124 flights
- April 2025: 75.0% from 121 flights
- May 2025: 69.5% from 155 flights
- June 2025: 53.7% from 150 flights
- July 2025: 63.5% from 155 flights
- August 2025: 82.1% from 155 flights
- September 2025: 82.1% from 178 flights
- October 2025: 77.0% from 183 flights
- November 2025: 75.4% from 176 flights
- December 2025: 65.2% from 136 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2026: 74.2% from 128 flights
- April 2026: 82.6% from 121 flights
- May 2026: 84.8% from 149 flights
- June 2026: 67.8% from 150 flights
- July 2026: 60.3% from 155 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.3% against 79.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,412 JFK → PIT 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