What is the best time of day to fly out of Lincoln?

6–8am. Departures in that band left on time 86.8% of the time across 1,731 flights, July 2023 through June 2026 — the best of the ten bands in the day. The 4–6pm band was the weakest at 69.2%.

What is the worst month to fly out of LNK?

January: 73.4% of the departures that flew left on time, with 453 scheduled. October was the other end of the year at 87.3%. Each figure pools three years of that calendar month.

How often are flights cancelled at LNK?

1.5% 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.

Best time to fly out of Lincoln (LNK)

Name: Departure on-time record for Lincoln Airport (LNK)
Creator: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
License: https://www.usa.gov/government-works

The early-flight folk wisdom holds up at Lincoln: departures in the 6–8am band left on time 86.8% of the time, against 69.2% in the 4–6pm 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.

Share of departures that left on time, by hour band and day of week.
Departure time	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Before 6am	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
6–8am	83	85	89	87	89	87	88
8–10am	81	85	81	82	83	84	87
10am–12pm	74	79	76	84	76	77	67
12–2pm	79	87	83	82	80	82	84
2–4pm	78	77	82	74	68	69	65
4–6pm	71	73	68	62	73	74	65
6–8pm	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
8–10pm	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
10pm–12am	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

fewer left on time more left on time

The steadiest stretch at LNK was 6–8am — 86.8% of departures left on time across 1,731 flights. The weakest was 4–6pm at 69.2%.

The year at LNK

January was the hard month at LNK: 73.4% of departures left on time, across 453 flights. October was the easy one at 87.3%. Each month pools three years of that month, so a single bad week does not decide it.

Share of departures that left on time, by calendar month. Best month in green, worst in amber. The hairline sits at the overall rate, 79.9%.

Departure on-time share at LNK by calendar month
Month	Share departures that left on time	Flights
January	73.4%	453
February	77.4%	414
March	74.5%	499
April	77.8%	600
May	78%	672
June	80.8%	824
July	80.8%	585
August	77.7%	582
September	86.2%	578
October	87.3%	606
November	85.4%	575
December	75.2%	488

Airlines at LNK

Every airline with at least 100 departures from LNK, 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	79.9%	105 min	1.4%	6,839

What delays out of LNK were put down to

Airlines file a reason with every arrival running 15 minutes late or more. Across 1,465 flights that departed LNK and ran 15 minutes late or more, the delay minutes break down with 42.5% put down to airline operations and 26.7% to late-arriving aircraft.

Late-arriving aircraft 26.7%
Airline operations 42.5%
Air traffic & airport volume 18.5%
Severe weather 12.3%
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 LNK

Of 6,881 scheduled arrivals into LNK, 71% reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Of the 1,854 arrivals that ran late, 45.3% 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 LNK

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.

ORD 78.7% on time · 3,571 flights
DEN 77.9% on time · 3,250 flights
DFW Not enough flights to say · 53 flights
DTW Not enough flights to say · 1 flights
LAX Not enough flights to say · 1 flights

Lincoln (LNK)

Rank 189 of 363 US airports by departures. Steadiest stretch of the day: 6–8am. Hardest month: January.

July 2023–June 2026 · 6,776 departures flown

79.9% of departures left on time

Questions about LNK

What is the best time of day to fly out of Lincoln?: 6–8am. Departures in that band left on time 86.8% of the time across 1,731 flights, July 2023 through June 2026 — the best of the ten bands in the day. The 4–6pm band was the weakest at 69.2%.
What is the worst month to fly out of LNK?: January: 73.4% of the departures that flew left on time, with 453 scheduled. October was the other end of the year at 87.3%. Each figure pools three years of that calendar month.
How often are flights cancelled at LNK?: 1.5% 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.