Carrier performance at one airport
HA→HNL
Hawaiian Airlines at Daniel K. Inouye International
- Departures
- 10,807
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 18
- Rank here
- #5 of 6
Hawaiian Airlines at Honolulu lands a B+, 4 points better than the national rate of 77.3%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by roughly 50 minutes on average. That rests on 10,807 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 12,359 at 90.2% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Hawaiian Airlines runs half a point behind the 82.1% weighted average across all carriers at HNL. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
81.4%
10,696 completed departures
Avg delay
52 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
0.85%
At HNL, this carrier only
Rank here
#5
Of 6 carriers clearing the floor at HNL
These figures cover 11,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. On-time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the same threshold the Department of Transportation uses in its own reports. Cancelled and diverted flights are excluded from the on-time rate and counted separately, which is why the cancellation column matters on its own.
Against the competition
Every carrier at HNL, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 90.2% of the time; Alaska Airlines manages 77.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 23,409 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 12,359 | 90.2% | 44 min | 0.55% | A+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 3,711 | 86.0% | 70 min | 1.35% | A |
| United Airlines | 5,102 | 85.0% | 73 min | 0.90% | A+ |
| American Airlines | 2,646 | 82.1% | 124 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| Hawaiian Airlines (this page) | 10,807 | 81.4% | 52 min | 0.85% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlines | 23,409 | 77.0% | 47 min | 1.59% | B |
The spread between Southwest and Alaska is 13 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 13 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Where Hawaiian Airlines flies from HNL
Hawaiian Airlines operates 18 routes out of HNL with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HNL to OGG · Kahului | 2,487 | 85.8% | 37 min | 0.72% | A+ |
| HNL to LIH · Lihue | 1,977 | 86.2% | 39 min | 1.01% | A |
| HNL to KOA · Kailua-Kona | 1,760 | 86.7% | 38 min | 1.08% | A |
| HNL to ITO · Hilo | 1,456 | 85.7% | 33 min | 0.34% | A+ |
| HNL to SEA · Seattle | 479 | 65.2% | 97 min | 0.63% | C+ |
| HNL to LAS · Las Vegas | 468 | 70.2% | 65 min | 0.21% | C+ |
| HNL to LAX · Los Angeles | 400 | 64.0% | 71 min | 2.00% | D |
| HNL to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 317 | 64.8% | 77 min | 1.26% | D |
| HNL to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 295 | 75.9% | 89 min | 1.36% | B |
| HNL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 217 | 69.4% | 54 min | 4.15% | C− |
| HNL to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 122 | 65.3% | 60 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 122 | 66.1% | 39 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to LGB · Long Beachthin sample | 122 | 76.0% | 42 min | 0.82% | B+ |
| HNL to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 122 | 76.2% | 49 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| HNL to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 122 | 73.8% | 49 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 122 | 82.6% | 73 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| HNL to SJC · San Josethin sample | 120 | 73.1% | 55 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 46 | 78.3% | 46 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 17 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,415 flights91.2%
- 8am–11am1,718 flights86.2%
- 11am–2pm2,651 flights79.2%
- 2pm–5pm2,104 flights76.8%
- 5pm–8pm1,539 flights83.6%
- 8pm–5am1,380 flights74.3%
Scale runs 65% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.2% of the time, against 74.3% for the overnight window. That is 17 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 2,651 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
December is the weak month at 70.9% on time, against 90.4% in September. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days. December was the busiest month here, with 2,781 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 71%Carrier
- 26%Late-arriving aircraft
- 2%Extreme weather
- 1%Security
- 0%National Airspace System
The largest share of delay minutes, 71%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 74,000 of the 104,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 104,256 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.85%, below the national 1.89% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.1% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.
The sample behind these figures is 10,807 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 90.4% on time and December 70.9%, a swing of 20 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of December before you think about anything else. 10,696 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
Hawaiian Airlines at HNL
How often is Hawaiian Airlines at HNL delayed?
About one flight in five arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 18.6% of the 10,807 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by roughly 50 minutes on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Hawaiian Airlines at HNL?
Southwest Airlines leads at 90.2% on time across 12,359 flights. Alaska Airlines is at the other end on 77.0%, a gap of 13 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Hawaiian Airlines at HNL?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 91.2% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 74.3%, 17 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on Hawaiian Airlines at HNL?
December is the weakest month at 70.9% on time, compared with 90.4% in September. Across the year that is 20 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- Hawaiian Airlines network-wide record
- Daniel K. Inouye International (HNL) all carriers
- HNL to OGG route record85.8%
- HNL to LIH route record86.2%
- HNL to KOA route record86.7%
- HNL to ITO route record85.7%
- Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.