Philadelphia, PA

What the Data Says About PHL

Philadelphia, PA in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania handled 1,060,086 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 81.3% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 198,194 experienced delays, 12,586 were cancelled, and 1,218 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 1.19%, the diversion rate to 0.11%, and the average delay when departures run late is 84.7 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing PHL against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at PHL, Late Aircraft leads the pack. Late Aircraft accounts for 41.1% of total delay minutes, followed by Carrier at 31.7% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 22.4%. Weather contributes 4.7% 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, November runs the cleanest at PHL with a 93.1% on-time rate, while July is the roughest at 87.3% — a 6-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in August, when average flights hit 16,992. The busiest route from PHL is to PHL (Philadelphia), with 32,254 flights at a 74.8% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 81.3% on-time, 84.7-minute average delay, 1.19% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Philadelphia, PA.