Portland, OR

What the Data Says About PDX

Portland, OR in Portland, Oregon handled 661,488 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 84.4% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 103,008 experienced delays, 5,511 were cancelled, and 666 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 0.83%, the diversion rate to 0.10%, and the average delay when departures run late is 66.7 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing PDX against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at PDX, Carrier leads the pack. Carrier accounts for 38.4% of total delay minutes, followed by Late Aircraft at 36.9% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 20.2%. Weather contributes 4.3% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.2%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, October runs the cleanest at PDX with a 94.4% on-time rate, while June is the roughest at 91% — a 3-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in August, when average flights hit 10,068. The busiest route from PDX is to SEA (Seattle), with 36,148 flights at a 87.7% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 84.4% on-time, 66.7-minute average delay, 0.83% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Portland, OR.