Airport month record
ATLDEC
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in December 2025
- Departures
- 25,764
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 12
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at ATL, see live FAA status.
ATL in December sits in the middle of the pack with a C. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, level with the national rate of 73.2%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 25,764 flights, of which American Airlines flew 501 at 82.0% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 82.0% on time across 501 flights.
Key figures
On time
73.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 25,093 completed departures
Avg delay
69 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.38%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
78.4%
ATL across all twelve months
These figures cover 25,764 departures from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in December 2025. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
December next to ATL's other months
Against ATL's own year, December ran 5 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 78.4%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, November ran 80.3% on time and January 78.3%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 28,551 | 68.8% | 75 min | 1.59% | C |
| August 2025 | 27,353 | 78.4% | 67 min | 0.85% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 25,839 | 86.5% | 54 min | 0.07% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 27,556 | 81.6% | 57 min | 0.20% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 25,888 | 80.3% | 66 min | 2.45% | B |
| December 2025 (this page) | 25,764 | 73.2% | 69 min | 2.38% | C |
| January 2026 | 24,595 | 78.3% | 61 min | 5.00% | B− |
| February 2026 | 23,024 | 80.3% | 56 min | 1.49% | B |
| March 2026 | 26,669 | 74.8% | 71 min | 3.46% | C− |
| April 2026 | 26,607 | 82.1% | 57 min | 1.00% | B |
| May 2026 | 27,535 | 77.2% | 61 min | 1.18% | B |
| June 2026 | 26,961 | 80.1% | 70 min | 1.38% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave ATL in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 15 points, against 26 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,753 flights82.5%
- 8am–11am5,507 flights79.3%
- 11am–2pm3,950 flights75.0%
- 2pm–5pm5,017 flights70.5%
- 5pm–8pm3,950 flights67.1%
- 8pm–5am5,587 flights69.6%
Scale runs 60% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 82.5% of the time, against 67.1% for the evening window. That is 15 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 5,587 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 81.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 53.6%. 28 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at ATL in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 82.0% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 55.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,613 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 19,422 | 74.5% | 64 min | 2.52% | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,613 | 55.9% | 88 min | 3.72% | D− |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,585 | 76.3% | 54 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 564 | 70.9% | 127 min | 1.06% | C |
| United Airlines | 523 | 76.2% | 81 min | 0.38% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 501 | 82.0% | 91 min | 0.20% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 492 | 69.4% | 77 min | 2.44% | C |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 274 | 69.5% | 118 min | 4.38% | C− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 258 | 60.1% | 90 min | 3.88% | D− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 258 | 73.6% | 96 min | 4.65% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 145 | 64.8% | 57 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 129 | 73.2% | 70 min | 1.55% | C |
Frontier Airlines cancels 3.7% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of ATL in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL to LGA · New York | 753 | 65.0% | 82 min | 5.71% | C− |
| ATL to MCO · Orlando | 719 | 68.5% | 67 min | 1.95% | C |
| ATL to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 687 | 65.0% | 69 min | 2.33% | C |
| ATL to MIA · Miami | 587 | 68.8% | 57 min | 2.21% | C |
| ATL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 574 | 74.2% | 74 min | 2.26% | C |
| ATL to DCA · Washington | 543 | 65.3% | 70 min | 3.68% | C− |
| ATL to EWR · Newark | 522 | 60.7% | 81 min | 3.45% | D− |
| ATL to TPA · Tampa | 504 | 69.9% | 63 min | 1.79% | C |
| ATL to ORD · Chicago | 487 | 60.5% | 82 min | 2.87% | D |
| ATL to PHL · Philadelphia | 460 | 67.3% | 79 min | 3.70% | C− |
| ATL to DEN · Denver | 457 | 68.2% | 69 min | 1.75% | C |
| ATL to LAX · Los Angeles | 444 | 77.0% | 61 min | 0.90% | B+ |
| ATL to BWI · Baltimore | 433 | 69.2% | 56 min | 2.54% | C |
| ATL to LAS · Las Vegas | 427 | 80.2% | 62 min | 1.64% | B |
| ATL to BOS · Boston | 416 | 72.3% | 54 min | 2.64% | C |
| ATL to RDU · Raleigh | 395 | 77.5% | 87 min | 2.28% | B |
| ATL to JFK · New York | 394 | 62.6% | 98 min | 4.06% | D− |
| ATL to DTW · Detroit | 379 | 73.9% | 55 min | 1.06% | C |
| ATL to IAH · Houston | 369 | 73.1% | 57 min | 2.98% | C |
| ATL to AUS · Austin | 367 | 77.7% | 54 min | 2.18% | B |
| ATL to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 356 | 78.9% | 62 min | 2.53% | B |
| ATL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 344 | 76.6% | 63 min | 1.74% | B |
| ATL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 336 | 76.0% | 70 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| ATL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 335 | 73.3% | 61 min | 2.39% | C |
| ATL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 334 | 76.1% | 66 min | 0.90% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held ATL up in December
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 43% of the 466,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 43%Carrier
- 32%Late-arriving aircraft
- 16%National Airspace System
- 9%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 43%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 199,000 of the 466,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 466,405 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.38% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.22%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.3% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.0% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from ATL in December
For a December trip through ATL: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 82.5% on time, and with 9.3% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), the whole year
- ATL in July68.8%
- ATL in August78.4%
- ATL in September86.5%
- ATL in October81.6%
- ATL in November80.3%
- ATL in January78.3%
- ATL in February80.3%
- ATL in March74.8%
- ATL in April82.1%
- ATL in May77.2%
- ATL in June80.1%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.