Airline · NK · 2020–2025 BTS data
Spirit Airlines
According to PlainFlights' airline traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Spirit Airlines ranks #11 of 18 tracked US carriers by total flights (most flights = #1).
Data updated 2026-06-13
- 77.6%
- On-time
- -1.4 pts
- vs US avg
- 74 min
- Delay when late
- 2.19%
- Cancelled
- #11 of 18
- Corpus placement
According to PlainFlights' airline traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Spirit Airlines ranks #11 of 18 tracked US carriers by total flights (most flights = #1). How we place airlines.
PlainFlights Reliability Score
Transparent derived index from BTS On-Time Performance data — not an official DOT/FAA rating.
- On-Time Rate F
77.6%
Share of flights arriving within the BTS 15-minute on-time threshold
- Delay Severity C
74 min
Total arrival-delay minutes (all flights, including delays under 15 min) divided by the flights that arrived 15+ min late
- Cancellation Rate C
2.19%
Share of scheduled flights cancelled
Weighted from on-time rate, delay minutes per late flight, and cancellation rate, each scored against the 18 currently tracked U.S. carriers with meaningful flight volume (percentile method). A dimension without a reported value drops out and its weight redistributes to the rest — missing data never deflates the score. See the full formula, weights, and live benchmark table.
BTS on-time dispatch plate
Carrier NK · Spirit Airlines
ONTIME-SOFT · BELOW-AVG · BOOK-MID · NAS-LED · CX-HOT · SPREAD-WIDE
- ONTIME-SOFT 77.6% on-time
- BELOW-AVG -1.4 pts vs US
- BOOK-MID 1.3M flights
- NAS-LED NAS / ATC lead
- CX-HOT 2.19% cancel
- SPREAD-WIDE 19-pt season gap
Nearest on-time peer: American Airlines (+ 1.0 pts)
Instrument codes from this carrier’s BTS on-time band, national gap, flight-book size, leading delay cause, cancel posture, and seasonal spread, not a booking recommendation.
On-time neighbourhood
Poles + nearest peers, not a full 18-carrier reprint
- EV
EV 89.8%
90
- AS
AS 80.8%
81
- WN
WN 80.4%
80
- AA
AA 78.6%
79
- NK
NK 77.6%
78
- G4
G4 75.3%
75
- F9
F9 73.7%
74
What this shows How NK sits among BTS on-time poles and nearest peers.
Spirit Airlines - monthly on-time rate
Last 24 months reported; ranged 66%–86%
Spirit Airlines - BTS Delay Tier Breakdown
How Spirit Airlines flights distribute across federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics arrival-delay tiers. The on-time band uses the BTS 15-minute threshold; longer-delay tiers reflect arrival-time bins reported in the underlying database.
Delay Cause Breakdown
Top delay cause: NAS.
Source: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, On-Time Performance
Seasonal on-time calendar
Multi-year average by calendar month for NK (BTS 2020–2025), not a single recent year.
-
Best month
October
83.7% on-time · ~17,648 flights/mo
-
Mid pack
August
76.5% on-time · ~18,933 flights/mo
-
Worst month
July
72.6% on-time · ~19,607 flights/mo
Spread 11.1 pts between October and July. The monthly chart above shows the recent path; this desk ranks the long-run calendar.
NK delay-share reading
Across 1,278,352 BTS-reported flights (2020–2025), Spirit Airlines posts 77.6% on-time, 1.4 points below the 79% national flight-weighted average, with 286,328 delayed arrivals and 28,009 cancellations (2.19% of the book). When a flight runs late, the average delay is 73.7 minutes.
Nearest on-time peer
Closest BTS on-time neighbour for NK, not a universal board reprint.
American Airlines
+1.0 pts on-time vs NK
Field definitions: on-time performance explained.
What to do with the Spirit Airlines on-time record
A single carrier's rate rarely settles a travel decision on its own -- use it as a starting point, not a verdict.
- See how Spirit Airlines ranks against every other tracked carrier on on-time performance. Airline performance rankings
- Put Spirit Airlines side by side against another airline on the same metrics. Compare airlines
- NAS is this airline's leading delay cause -- see how it's measured. Read methodology
Reflects BTS On-Time Performance data, 2020-2025; excludes cancelled and diverted flights.
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates this airline's on-time performance and delay-cause breakdown, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.