Best time to fly out of Rochester (RST)
The early-flight folk wisdom holds up at Rochester: departures in the Before 6am band left on time 89.2% of the time, against 71.2% in the 6–8pm band. These are historical odds, not forecasts. The records say what happened on this schedule over three years; they know nothing about tomorrow’s thunderstorm.
Data through June 2026 · Bureau of Transportation Statistics
On-time rate by hour and day
On this page, “on time” means a departure that pushed back less than 15 minutes behind its scheduled time — the Bureau of Transportation Statistics definition, and the one airlines are held to.
| Departure time | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 6am | 88 | 86 | 94 | 93 | 86 | 88 | 90 |
| 6–8am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8–10am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10am–12pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 12–2pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2–4pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4–6pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6–8pm | 74 | 76 | – | 66 | 74 | – | 67 |
| 8–10pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10pm–12am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
The steadiest stretch at RST was Before 6am — 89.2% of departures left on time across 725 flights. The weakest was 6–8pm at 71.2%.
The year at RST
December was the hard month at RST: 69.6% of departures left on time, across 289 flights. November was the easy one at 86.5%. Each month pools three years of that month, so a single bad week does not decide it.
| Month | Share departures that left on time | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| January | 74.8% | 226 |
| February | 83.9% | 217 |
| March | 78.7% | 276 |
| April | 79.6% | 327 |
| May | 82.5% | 505 |
| June | 70.9% | 358 |
| July | 77.3% | 274 |
| August | 79.6% | 279 |
| September | 86% | 345 |
| October | 85.4% | 372 |
| November | 86.5% | 267 |
| December | 69.6% | 289 |
Airlines at RST
Every airline with at least 100 departures from RST, busiest first. These are that airline’s departures from this airport only — its record across the country sits on its own page.
| Airline | Left on time | Typical delay | Cancelled | Departures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 79.1% | 102 min | 1.6% | 2,340 |
| Envoy Air | 78.7% | 67 min | 3% | 889 |
| Endeavor Air | 81.9% | 101 min | 1.3% | 376 |
Endeavor Air (through December 2024) stopped filing before June 2026. Its row covers a shorter run of months than the rest of the table, so its figure is not set against the others anywhere on this page.
What delays out of RST were put down to
Airlines file a reason with every arrival running 15 minutes late or more. Across 821 flights that departed RST and ran 15 minutes late or more, the delay minutes break down with 44% put down to airline operations and 22.6% to late-arriving aircraft.
- Late-arriving aircraft 22.6%
- Airline operations 44%
- Air traffic & airport volume 14.8%
- Severe weather 18.5%
- Security 0.1%
Late-arriving aircraft is the knock-on category: the plane came in late, so it went out late again. It is why a 7am problem in Newark is still a problem in Denver at dinnertime, and why it is usually the biggest slice on the bar.
If you are connecting through RST
Of 3,735 scheduled arrivals into RST, 73.4% reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Of the 908 arrivals that ran late, 50.3% were no more than 45 minutes behind — which is the difference between a tight connection and a new boarding pass.
Work out a specific layover — pick the airport and the minutes you have, and the tool reads the same arrival records back as a share.
Busiest routes out of RST
Ranked by flights, with the share that arrived on time at the far end. Where a route carries enough flights for a page of its own the chip goes there; otherwise it goes to the destination airport.
RST in one number
Rochester (RST)
Rank 220 of 363 US airports by departures. Steadiest stretch of the day: Before 6am. Hardest month: December.
Questions about RST
- What is the best time of day to fly out of Rochester?
- Before 6am. Departures in that band left on time 89.2% of the time across 725 flights, July 2023 through June 2026 — the best of the ten bands in the day. The 6–8pm band was the weakest at 71.2%.
- What is the worst month to fly out of RST?
- December: 69.6% of the departures that flew left on time, with 289 scheduled. November was the other end of the year at 86.5%. Each figure pools three years of that calendar month.
- Which airline is most on time at RST?
- SkyWest Airlines — 79.1% of its 2,340 departures from RST left on time. Envoy Air sat at the other end at 78.7% over 889 flights. Only airlines with at least 100 departures here are ranked. Airlines that stopped filing before June 2026 are left out of the ranking — their figures cover a shorter run of months than the rest of the table.
- How often are flights cancelled at RST?
- 1.9% of scheduled departures were cancelled over July 2023 through June 2026. Cancellations are counted against everything scheduled, not against everything that flew — a rate that looks small still adds up to real people in a rebooking line.