American’s on-time performance rose across its network in the second quarter, its first full quarter under a rebuilt schedule at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. At DFW itself, the improvement was slim.
Departures from the airline’s largest hub left the gate on time 67.1% of the time from April through June, up from 66% a year earlier, according to aviation analytics firm OAG. The 1.1-point gain roughly matched the improvement at other major U.S. airports and trailed several of American’s other hubs. DFW remained the second-worst departure performer among the country’s busiest airports, ahead of only nearby Dallas Love Field.
In April, American scrapped the nine-bank schedule it had run at DFW for more than a decade and moved to 13 smaller banks, spreading its roughly 930 peak daily departures more evenly across the day. The carrier has said the change would ease congestion and improve reliability.
In a statement, an American spokesperson told AirlineGeeks that the airline “delivered strong operational performance in the second quarter, with our significant operational enhancements delivering strong momentum and some of our best Q2 reliability and customer experience results in recent years.”
The spokesperson added: “While part of the quarter was impacted by an increase in severe weather events that made it difficult — and at times impossible — to operate, we are confident that the changes we’ve made are driving real, meaningful results.”
Network Lift
American’s systemwide arrival rate reached 76.6% in the April-to-June quarter, up from 72.6% a year earlier, OAG data show. Cancellations fell to 1.9% from 2.1%. American said May was its second-best month for on-time arrivals in a decade and its best May ever for baggage handling.
The other major carriers improved by similar margins. Delta rose to 82.2% from 78.3%. Alaska climbed to 82.3% from 78.3%. United gained less, reaching 78.2% from 76.3%. American again finished behind all three.
DFW’s gain lagged most of American’s network. Across the roughly 140 U.S. airports OAG tracked, on-time departures improved about a point from a year earlier, so DFW roughly matched the field. American’s own hubs moved in both directions:
| Hub | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte (CLT) | 72.8% | 77.6% | +4.8 |
| Philadelphia (PHL) | 75.6% | 79.9% | +4.3 |
| New York JFK | 77.9% | 81.3% | +3.4 |
| Washington National (DCA) | 72.5% | 73.8% | +1.2 |
| Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) | 66.0% | 67.1% | +1.1 |
| Miami (MIA) | 76.4% | 77.3% | +0.9 |
| New York LaGuardia (LGA) | 75.1% | 75.3% | +0.2 |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | 81.7% | 79.4% | −2.3 |
| Chicago O’Hare (ORD) | 76.5% | 73.4% | −3.0 |
| Phoenix (PHX) | 78.9% | 75.3% | −3.6 |
Charlotte and Philadelphia improved about four times as much as DFW. Phoenix, Chicago O’Hare, and Los Angeles declined. American said Philadelphia, which it also rebanked, improved further in May, when it reported on-time arrivals up 18 points and departures up nearly 7 points year over year, and that Philadelphia was its highest-rated hub for customer satisfaction that month.
DFW is American’s largest hub, with about 930 departures and 100,000 travelers on peak days, and the country’s second-busiest airport. Its cancellation rate rose slightly, to 2.9% from 2.8%.
Weather
Thunderstorms battered North Texas through the spring. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered ground stops at DFW several times in May and June, canceling or delaying hundreds of flights in single events. Storms in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex ripple across American’s network, stranding connecting passengers far from Texas. American said June brought a significant number of severe weather events across several hubs, especially DFW, but that it still improved on-time arrivals year over year.
American cited weather when it announced the rebank. The nine-bank schedule packed flights into peaks that strained the operation during storms and congestion, the carrier said. Smaller banks give the hub room to recover when a delay hits, it said.
(Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
OAG’s data do not separate weather delays from other causes, so whether the spring ran rougher or calmer than 2025 is not clear.
American also lengthened scheduled block times — the planned gate-to-gate time — on DFW flights, a change it said would improve on-time performance.
On-time rates are measured against the published schedule, so longer block times can lift arrival numbers without a change in how fast aircraft leave the gate. American said its block-time investment, which it called historic, continued to support its arrival performance through the quarter. Its systemwide arrival rate rose about four points from a year earlier. Its DFW departure rate rose about 1%.
The 13-bank plan, which surfaced in American’s timetables in late December, thins the early-morning departure bank and adds connections through the day.
American pointed to the schedule’s first month as evidence it is working. On-time arrivals at DFW improved by nearly 10 points year over year in April, the airline said, while missed connections fell by nearly half and customer satisfaction more than doubled.
The hub recorded its best-ever April for baggage handling, including the best single baggage day in its history. Those figures measure arrivals rather than gate departures and cover April alone, the schedule’s first month, before the May and June storms; the OAG data track departures across the full quarter.
Chief Operating Officer David Seymour said in April that early results showed better on-time arrivals and less congestion.
