According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Philadelphia, PA (PHL) ranks #22 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Philadelphia, PA posts below-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as one of the busiest U.S. airports.
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PHL on-time rate vs. the national average
Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.
Volume vs. on-time rate
Where Philadelphia, PA sits on volume vs. on-time rate
Among the 382 U.S. airports in the BTS corpus, Philadelphia, PA handles more flight
volume than 94% of them, and has a higher on-time rate than
25% of them, placing it in the quadrant for busy and delay-prone.
Flight volume and on-time rate are independent figures: a busy airport can still run
reliably, and a quiet one can still run late.
Philadelphia, PA vs. a 29-airport national peer sample, volume percentile vs. on-time-rate percentile.
Total flights (2020-2025): 1,060,086 ·
On-time rate: 81.3%
Delay Cause Breakdown
Top delay cause: Late Aircraft.
Total delay minutes7,748,606 min
Late Aircraft3,183,256 min · 41%
Carrier2,457,381 min · 32%
NAS (National Aviation System)1,731,955 min · 22%
Weather364,129 min · 5%
Security11,885 min · 0%
Source: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, On-Time Performance
PHL - seasonal on-time pattern
Best: November (93.1%) · worst: July (87.3%)
PHL - on-time rate by year
2020–2025, year-over-year trend.
PHL - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)
Average taxi-out 21.5 min · taxi-in 8.2 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).
PHL's average taxi-out (21.5 min) runs longer than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). The heaviest month in this window is July 2025 at 25.4 min; the lightest is March 2024 at 17.3 min.
Cancellation & Diversion Analysis
Flight disruption statistics for Philadelphia, PA.
Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for Philadelphia, PA, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not same-state geography. Axes stay disjoint: volume peers exclude the on-time peer set. Same-state compare stays below.
The standout signal at Philadelphia, PA is traffic scale: 1,060,086 BTS flights (2020–2025) place it #22 of 382 by book size. That busy-book footprint sits beside a 81.3% on-time rate (2.3 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average), 198,194 delayed departures, and 12,586 cancellations (1.19% of the book).
Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (41.1% late-aircraft, 31.7% carrier, 22.4% NAS, 4.7% weather, 0.2% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.
On the multi-year calendar, PHL is strongest in November (93.1% on-time) and weakest in July (87.3%), a 5.8-point swing. Volume peaks in August (~16,992 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to MCO (Orlando) at 74.8% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.
Philadelphia, PA vs. the national on-time distribution
On-time rate among all 382 tracked U.S. airports
81.3%Top 75%higher than 25% of 382 airports
Philadelphia, PA
60%95%
U.S. airports by on-time rate, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more airports. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Data Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data (2020–2025).
Statistics reflect cumulative performance across all available reporting periods. On-time rates exclude cancelled and diverted flights.
PHL's on-time book sits in the slower half of the BTS set; check the delay mix and the worst month before treating the headline as typical.
Check the busiest route from PHL before you book a connection. See top routes →
Travel in November rather than July if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns →
Build extra connection buffer when taxi-out spikes. July 2025 averaged 25.4 min. Taxi times →
On-time rate reflects the BTS historical average across all reporting carriers at this airport, not any single flight or airline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Philadelphia, PA's on-time rate?
Philadelphia, PA (PHL) has a 81.3% on-time rate across 1,060,086 BTS-tracked flights (2020-2025), 2.3 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average; that places it in roughly the below-median on-time performance.
How does PHL rank among U.S. airports by traffic volume?
Philadelphia, PA ranks #22 of 382 tracked US airports by total BTS flights (most flights = #1), making it one of the busiest U.S. airports.
What's the most common cause of delays at Philadelphia, PA?
Late Aircraft is the leading delay cause at PHL, accounting for 41.1% of delay minutes. The full breakdown: 41.1% late-aircraft, 31.7% carrier, 22.4% NAS/air-traffic-control, 4.7% weather, and 0.2% security.
When is the best time to fly through Philadelphia, PA?
November is historically PHL's strongest month at 93.1% on-time, while July is the weakest at 87.3%, a 5.8-point swing across the BTS historical record.