Airport month record

ATLJAN

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in January 2026

Departures: 24,595
Month: January 2026
National, same month: 79.2%
Carriers: 12

Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at ATL, see live FAA status.

ATL in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 5.0% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 24,595 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,486 at 88.4% on time.

Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 88.4% on time across 1,486 flights.

On time

78.3%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 23,321 completed departures

Avg delay

61 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

5.00%

Nationally in January: 4.71%

Whole year

78.4%

ATL across all twelve months

These figures cover 24,595 departures from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in January 2026. 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

January next to ATL's other months

Against ATL's own year, January ran level with the twelve-month rate of 78.4%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 5.00% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.9 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 73.2% on time and February 80.3%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

ATL month by month
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	25,764	73.2%	69 min	2.38%	C
January 2026 (this page)	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 January

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 11 points, against 26 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,439 flights86.7%
8am–11am5,419 flights82.5%
11am–2pm4,042 flights78.0%
2pm–5pm4,744 flights76.1%
5pm–8pm3,830 flights75.3%
8pm–5am5,121 flights76.4%

Scale runs 65% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 86.7% of the time, against 75.3% for the evening window. That is 11 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 5,419 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.9% on time and Monday the weakest at 65.1%. 24 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at ATL in January

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 88.4% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 62.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,518 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at ATL in January 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Delta Air Lines	18,436	79.5%	53 min	4.79%	B−
Frontier Airlines	1,518	62.6%	83 min	3.62%	D−
Southwest Airlines	1,486	88.4%	51 min	3.97%	A−
SkyWest Airlines	705	68.8%	115 min	9.93%	C−
United Airlines	547	82.5%	61 min	2.93%	B
American Airlines	506	77.3%	106 min	7.71%	B−
Spirit Airlines	458	68.4%	77 min	6.77%	C−
PSA Airlinesthin sample	272	79.3%	92 min	12.87%	B−
Republic Airwaysthin sample	238	82.4%	55 min	6.72%	B−
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	205	67.0%	99 min	8.29%	C−
Envoy Airthin sample	138	69.2%	56 min	5.80%	C−
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	86	67.1%	51 min	1.16%	C

SkyWest Airlines cancels 9.9% 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 January

Routes from ATL in January 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
ATL to LGA · New York	733	83.8%	52 min	5.46%	B−
ATL to MCO · Orlando	702	75.1%	66 min	2.85%	B
ATL to FLL · Fort Lauderdale	676	66.9%	57 min	3.99%	C−
ATL to DCA · Washington	573	71.6%	76 min	8.38%	C−
ATL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth	555	72.7%	78 min	9.55%	C−
ATL to MIA · Miami	547	66.6%	70 min	3.11%	C−
ATL to EWR · Newark	514	76.1%	56 min	6.42%	B−
ATL to TPA · Tampa	503	73.5%	56 min	2.58%	C
ATL to ORD · Chicago	445	68.5%	71 min	2.02%	C
ATL to DEN · Denver	429	84.4%	48 min	3.03%	B−
ATL to PHL · Philadelphia	425	77.8%	66 min	6.59%	B−
ATL to DTW · Detroit	395	77.6%	69 min	2.53%	B
ATL to IAH · Houston	394	78.0%	72 min	4.31%	B−
ATL to LAS · Las Vegas	390	76.7%	63 min	2.82%	B
ATL to BWI · Baltimore	379	76.9%	61 min	6.33%	B−
ATL to LAX · Los Angeles	367	73.7%	71 min	2.18%	C
ATL to RDU · Raleighthin sample	356	84.1%	46 min	6.18%	B−
ATL to CLT · Charlottethin sample	353	81.8%	55 min	9.63%	B−
ATL to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	349	73.9%	81 min	5.44%	C−
ATL to AUS · Austinthin sample	349	85.5%	80 min	5.44%	A−
ATL to BOS · Bostonthin sample	344	75.5%	60 min	7.27%	B−
ATL to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample	316	70.9%	46 min	3.16%	C−
ATL to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample	314	77.4%	54 min	2.87%	B
ATL to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	308	81.4%	50 min	4.22%	B−
ATL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	299	84.3%	55 min	6.02%	B−

Delay causes

What held ATL up in January

One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 48% of the 310,000 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.

Carrier
48%
Late-arriving aircraft
26%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
5%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 48%, 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 149,000 of the 310,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 309,698 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations run at 5.00%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in twenty cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.

7.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from ATL in January

For a January trip through ATL: expect 78.3% on time and 5.00% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

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 December73.2%
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.

Key figures