PlainFlights

Airport · PHL · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

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.

Data updated 2026-06-13

81.3%
On-time
Top 75%
on-time, US airports
85 min
Delay when late
1.19%
Cancelled
#22 of 382
Corpus placement
View watchlist

Get PHL on-time updates (RSS)

Tools for PHL

Compare PHL to another hub, filter routes, or browse airline stats without leaving this profile.

Airport lookup

Compare airports

Route finder

Airline & season filters

PHL on-time rate vs. the national average

Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.

0%100%U.S. average79%81.3%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Late Aircraft. Total delay minutes: 7,748,606.

Late Aircraft 41.1% (3,183,256 min)
Carrier 31.7% (2,457,381 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 22.4% (1,731,955 min)
Weather 4.7% (364,129 min)
Security 0.2% (11,885 min)

PHL - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: November (93.1%) · worst: July (87.3%)

86%88%90%92%94% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 90.3%

PHL - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

85%90%95%100% 202020212022202320242025 96% 88.3% ▼ -8.0%

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).

15 min20 min25 min30 min Jan 24Dec 25 22.9 min 22.6 min ▼ -1.3%

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.

Cancellation Rate

1.19%

12,586 of 1,060,086 flights

Diversion Rate

0.11%

1,218 of 1,060,086 flights

Delay Rate

18.7%

198,194 of 1,060,086 flights

Top Routes from PHL

Busiest routes to and from Philadelphia, PA.

Filter routes

Route Flights On-Time Distance
MCO (Orlando) → PHL (Philadelphia) 32,254 74.8% 861 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → MCO (Orlando) 32,240 76.4% 861 mi
ATL (Atlanta) → PHL (Philadelphia) 32,104 80.2% 666 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → ATL (Atlanta) 32,089 83.4% 666 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → BOS (Boston) 26,321 82% 280 mi
BOS (Boston) → PHL (Philadelphia) 26,282 83.5% 280 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → ORD (Chicago) 23,846 83.4% 678 mi
ORD (Chicago) → PHL (Philadelphia) 23,837 77.8% 678 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → CLT (Charlotte) 19,924 81.4% 449 mi
CLT (Charlotte) → PHL (Philadelphia) 19,904 78.3% 449 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) 18,570 80.2% 1,303 mi
DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) → PHL (Philadelphia) 18,566 76% 1,303 mi
MIA (Miami) → PHL (Philadelphia) 16,851 76.5% 1,013 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → MIA (Miami) 16,803 78.4% 1,013 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → DTW (Detroit) 15,938 84.4% 453 mi
DTW (Detroit) → PHL (Philadelphia) 15,936 84.4% 453 mi
DEN (Denver) → PHL (Philadelphia) 15,251 74.8% 1,558 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → DEN (Denver) 15,213 80% 1,558 mi
PHL (Philadelphia) → FLL (Fort Lauderdale) 15,161 78.2% 992 mi
FLL (Fort Lauderdale) → PHL (Philadelphia) 15,133 77.3% 992 mi

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

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.

Similar on-time rate

Nearest out-of-state BTS on-time rate (this airport: 81.3%).

St. Louis, MO

St. Louis, MO

81.3% on-time 687,272 flights

Memphis, TN

Memphis, TN

81.3% on-time 251,985 flights

Traverse City, MI

Traverse City, MI

81.3% on-time 50,174 flights

Montrose/Delta, CO

Montrose/Delta, CO

81.3% on-time 32,233 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 1,060,086).

Baltimore, MD

Baltimore, MD

1,049,006 flights 78% on-time

Nashville, TN

Nashville, TN

1,046,597 flights 80.8% on-time

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Fort Lauderdale, FL

1,010,982 flights 76.4% on-time

San Diego, CA

San Diego, CA

973,807 flights 80.8% on-time

Other Airports in Pennsylvania

Compare performance with other Pennsylvania airports.

PIT 83.3%

Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh · 462,554 flights
MDT 82.8%

Harrisburg, PA

Harrisburg · 60,271 flights
ABE 83.7%

Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, PA

Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton · 48,496 flights
AVP 82.7%

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre · 21,551 flights
SCE 83.8%

State College, PA

State College · 9,139 flights
LBE 83.5%

Latrobe, PA

Latrobe · 8,539 flights
JST 82.1%

Johnstown, PA

Johnstown · 7,267 flights
ERI 87.3%

Erie, PA

Erie · 3,197 flights

PHL delay-share reading

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.

Statewide aggregates for Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania flight data.

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.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Using PHL's data

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.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) On-Time Performance data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFlights

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Airline on-time performance and operational reliability · 2025

Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. Airport figures are computed directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.