Best time to fly out of Hays (HYS)
Hays did not fly enough departures in this window to split the day into time bands. Not enough flights to say. A percentage needs at least 100 flights behind it before it is worth printing; anything thinner is noise wearing a decimal point. 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 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6–8am | 92 | 89 | 91 | 97 | 94 | 90 | 87 |
| 8–10am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10am–12pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 12–2pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2–4pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4–6pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6–8pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8–10pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10pm–12am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Not enough flights to say — fewer than 100 in this window.
The year at HYS
May was the hard month at HYS: 78.5% of departures left on time, across 168 flights. March was the easy one at 88.3%. 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 | 79.4% | 168 |
| February | 86.8% | 154 |
| March | 88.3% | 168 |
| April | 87.5% | 163 |
| May | 78.5% | 168 |
| June | 78.8% | 154 |
| July | 81.6% | 168 |
| August | 83.1% | 168 |
| September | 87.1% | 163 |
| October | 87.6% | 169 |
| November | 86.1% | 161 |
| December | 86.8% | 168 |
Airlines at HYS
Every airline with at least 100 departures from HYS, 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 | 84.4% | 138 min | 2.1% | 1,972 |
What delays out of HYS were put down to
Airlines file a reason with every arrival running 15 minutes late or more. Across 345 flights that departed HYS and ran 15 minutes late or more, the delay minutes break down with 44.7% put down to late-arriving aircraft and 31% to airline operations.
- Late-arriving aircraft 44.7%
- Airline operations 31%
- Air traffic & airport volume 11.2%
- Severe weather 13.1%
- Security 0%
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 HYS
Of 1,973 scheduled arrivals into HYS, 76.2% reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Of the 423 arrivals that ran late, 42.6% 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 HYS
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.
HYS in one number
Hays (HYS)
Rank 282 of 363 US airports by departures. Steadiest stretch of the day: 6–8am. Hardest month: May.
Questions about HYS
- What is the worst month to fly out of HYS?
- May: 78.5% of the departures that flew left on time, with 168 scheduled. March was the other end of the year at 88.3%. Each figure pools three years of that calendar month.
- How often are flights cancelled at HYS?
- 2.1% 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.