Cleveland, OH

What the Data Says About CLE

Cleveland, OH in Cleveland, Ohio handled 446,498 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 82% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 80,317 experienced delays, 5,664 were cancelled, and 423 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 1.27%, the diversion rate to 0.09%, and the average delay when departures run late is 75.9 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing CLE against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at CLE, Late Aircraft leads the pack. Late Aircraft accounts for 38.2% of total delay minutes, followed by Carrier at 32.4% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 25.8%. Weather contributes 3.5% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.1%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, September runs the cleanest at CLE with a 94.1% on-time rate, while July is the roughest at 89.1% — a 5-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in March, when average flights hit 6,755. The busiest route from CLE is to ORD (Chicago), with 18,867 flights at a 84.8% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 82% on-time, 75.9-minute average delay, 1.27% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Cleveland, OH.