Route profile
JFK→TPA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New York to Tampa, 1,005 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 14% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,154 flights. How this is calculated
JFK → TPA arrives on time 74.7% of the time; the return trip, TPA → JFK, arrives on time 77.7% of the time, a 3.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
JFK → TPA spends 32.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,005-mile trip: 26.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at JFK and 5.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at TPA.
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 95% of 4,467 comparable routes.
81.7% on time on a typical Wednesday, against 66.1% 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 JFK to TPA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
JFK to TPA struggles most at 9 AM: 68.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 15.5 points behind the 83.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16 points.
JFK to TPA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 70.6% arrive on time, 4.4 points ahead of the 66.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.8 points.
Sunday is the day JFK to TPA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 66.1% on time where they average 73.5%, 7.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
In December, JFK to TPA runs 6 points below routes of similar length, 71.6% on time to 77.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.2 points.
JFK to TPA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 68.3% | routes of similar length | 83.8% | −15.5 pts | 243 here, 149,894 there |
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 70.6% | routes of similar length | 66.2% | +4.4 pts | 1,126 here, 188,170 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 66.1% | routes of similar length | 73.5% | −7.4 pts | 1,001 here, 437,837 there |
| Month: December | 71.6% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −6.0 pts | 666 here, 248,672 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 1,005 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 → TPA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
JFK → TPA cancelled 189 of 7,154 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 38. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 49.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 76 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 189 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
94 cancellations, 49.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
60 cancellations, 31.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
35 cancellations, 18.5% 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.
189 coded cancellations were recorded on JFK → TPA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
61 min late
against a median of 7 min early
JFK → TPA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 7 min early, but the worst tenth are 68 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 7,154 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at TPA after arriving from JFK.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.6% | 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 2.64% of the time and diverts 0.52% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,928 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 61 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,154 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
JFK → TPA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.1% of the time, against 67.5% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 19.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 88.7% on time from 425 flights
- 7 AM: 88.3% on time from 1,221 flights
- 8 AM: 78.3% on time from 250 flights
- 9 AM: 68.3% on time from 256 flights
- 10 AM: 75.1% on time from 248 flights
- 11 AM: 78.6% on time from 629 flights
- 12 PM: 73.4% on time from 226 flights
- 1 PM: 67.2% on time from 254 flights
- 2 PM: 69.1% on time from 719 flights
- 3 PM: 70.9% on time from 725 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 57.6% on time from 278 flights
- 6 PM: 62.8% on time from 251 flights
- 7 PM: 70.6% on time from 1,152 flights
- 8 PM: 67.4% on time from 403 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why JFK → TPA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → TPA. 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 | 3,377 | 78.8% | 2.10% | -10 min | 8.6% |
| JetBlue | 3,362 | 70.5% | 3.42% | -4 min | 12.0% |
| Frontier Airlines | 415 | 74.5% | 0.72% | -7 min | 9.2% |
Delta Air Lines flew 47.2% of the 7,154 flights listed. JetBlue cancelled 3.42% of its flights here against 0.72% for Frontier Airlines.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 8.3 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.
DL2042 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 87.8% of the time, 18.9 points more often than B6125 (2:59 PM) at 68.9%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 15.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.9%
- Feb: 79.0%
- Mar: 74.0%
- Apr: 80.8%
- May: 75.2%
- Jun: 73.4%
- Jul: 64.8%
- Aug: 71.9%
- Sep: 78.0%
- Oct: 76.8%
- Nov: 80.7%
- Dec: 71.6%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 16.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 59.0% from 155 flights
- August 2023: 74.6% from 155 flights
- September 2023: 69.8% from 176 flights
- October 2023: 72.8% from 180 flights
- November 2023: 78.1% from 192 flights
- December 2023: 73.5% from 226 flights
- January 2024: 74.9% from 192 flights
- February 2024: 83.6% from 174 flights
- March 2024: 68.0% from 186 flights
- April 2024: 83.7% from 181 flights
- May 2024: 73.2% from 186 flights
- June 2024: 73.5% from 161 flights
- July 2024: 65.3% from 155 flights
- August 2024: 66.0% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 75.9% from 151 flights
- October 2024: 81.3% from 170 flights
- November 2024: 86.8% from 234 flights
- December 2024: 70.9% from 256 flights
- January 2025: 73.0% from 212 flights
- February 2025: 73.4% from 218 flights
- March 2025: 75.1% from 251 flights
- April 2025: 76.5% from 248 flights
- May 2025: 66.2% from 214 flights
- June 2025: 71.4% from 208 flights
- July 2025: 68.0% from 217 flights
- August 2025: 74.0% from 208 flights
- September 2025: 87.4% from 182 flights
- October 2025: 76.9% from 173 flights
- November 2025: 76.0% from 207 flights
- December 2025: 70.4% from 195 flights
- January 2026: 67.7% from 197 flights
- February 2026: 81.5% from 174 flights
- March 2026: 78.6% from 176 flights
- April 2026: 83.8% from 192 flights
- May 2026: 88.1% from 180 flights
- June 2026: 75.1% from 200 flights
- July 2026: 65.4% from 217 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.8% against 73.8% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,154 JFK → TPA 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