Airport month record
BNAJAN
Nashville International in January 2026
- Departures
- 7,853
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 13
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at BNA, see live FAA status.
BNA in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 7.1% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, more than 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 7,853 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 4,458 at 87.9% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 87.9% on time across 4,458 flights.
Key figures
On time
84.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 7,290 completed departures
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
7.07%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
76.2%
BNA across all twelve months
These figures cover 7,853 departures from Nashville 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 BNA's other months
Against BNA's own year, January ran 8 points better than the twelve-month rate of 76.2%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 7.07% of scheduled departures were called off, 4.7 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 74.9% on time and February 81.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 9,459 | 69.6% | 80 min | 2.09% | C |
| August 2025 | 9,012 | 80.8% | 63 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 8,686 | 85.2% | 62 min | 0.24% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 9,841 | 75.4% | 59 min | 0.42% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 8,849 | 79.0% | 68 min | 1.22% | B |
| December 2025 | 8,776 | 74.9% | 64 min | 0.99% | C+ |
| January 2026 (this page) | 7,853 | 84.3% | 66 min | 7.07% | B− |
| February 2026 | 7,542 | 81.0% | 56 min | 1.62% | B |
| March 2026 | 9,623 | 75.1% | 71 min | 2.31% | B |
| April 2026 | 9,617 | 77.7% | 58 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 9,814 | 70.6% | 57 min | 0.57% | C+ |
| June 2026 | 9,725 | 65.5% | 61 min | 0.98% | C+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave BNA in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 11 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,308 flights88.1%
- 8am–11am1,687 flights89.7%
- 11am–2pm1,433 flights84.5%
- 2pm–5pm1,509 flights81.2%
- 5pm–8pm1,381 flights78.6%
- 8pm–5am535 flights82.1%
Scale runs 70% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the morning departure. Flights leaving between 8am–11am arrive on time 89.7% of the time, against 78.6% 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 1,687 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 88.7% on time and Sunday the weakest at 80.1%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at BNA in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 87.9% of the time; Republic Airways manages 77.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 678 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,458 | 87.9% | 46 min | 5.99% | A− |
| American Airlines | 744 | 78.6% | 98 min | 10.62% | B− |
| Republic Airways | 678 | 77.4% | 66 min | 10.47% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 590 | 87.1% | 88 min | 5.76% | A− |
| United Airlines | 420 | 78.9% | 71 min | 6.43% | B− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 232 | 80.0% | 89 min | 6.90% | B− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 201 | 78.0% | 68 min | 4.98% | B− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 168 | 83.0% | 78 min | 12.50% | B− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 129 | 75.2% | 60 min | 9.30% | B− |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 86 | 75.6% | 91 min | 4.65% | B− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 56 | 57.7% | 41 min | 7.14% | D− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 50 | 72.1% | 146 min | 14.00% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 41 | 73.7% | 151 min | 7.32% | C− |
American Airlines cancels 10.6% 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 BNA in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNA to DCA · Washington | 369 | 77.4% | 67 min | 10.03% | B− |
| BNA to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 326 | 72.8% | 81 min | 6.13% | C− |
| BNA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 309 | 86.0% | 74 min | 7.44% | A− |
| BNA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 307 | 82.0% | 109 min | 11.40% | B− |
| BNA to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 298 | 85.8% | 93 min | 5.70% | A− |
| BNA to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 285 | 86.0% | 56 min | 7.02% | A− |
| BNA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 260 | 83.4% | 116 min | 9.62% | B− |
| BNA to DEN · Denverthin sample | 257 | 80.7% | 54 min | 5.45% | B− |
| BNA to MIA · Miamithin sample | 241 | 75.7% | 80 min | 7.88% | B− |
| BNA to AUS · Austinthin sample | 239 | 89.3% | 72 min | 5.86% | A− |
| BNA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 199 | 82.3% | 55 min | 9.05% | B− |
| BNA to TPA · Tampathin sample | 198 | 84.1% | 40 min | 4.55% | B− |
| BNA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 195 | 81.0% | 61 min | 8.21% | B− |
| BNA to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 187 | 88.5% | 58 min | 6.95% | A− |
| BNA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 186 | 83.6% | 48 min | 11.29% | B− |
| BNA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 182 | 85.1% | 45 min | 7.69% | A− |
| BNA to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 182 | 78.3% | 100 min | 8.79% | B− |
| BNA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 167 | 83.1% | 65 min | 4.19% | B− |
| BNA to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 164 | 83.1% | 66 min | 5.49% | B− |
| BNA to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 148 | 85.7% | 47 min | 4.73% | A− |
| BNA to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 138 | 86.0% | 26 min | 6.52% | A− |
| BNA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 131 | 90.2% | 38 min | 6.11% | A− |
| BNA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 130 | 94.2% | 34 min | 7.69% | A− |
| BNA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 120 | 88.4% | 28 min | 6.67% | A− |
| BNA to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 116 | 84.0% | 44 min | 8.62% | B− |
Delay causes
What held BNA up in January
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 75,000 reported delay minutes.
- 40%Late-arriving aircraft
- 35%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
40% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 75,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 74,878 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 7.07%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in fifteen 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.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% 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.
What to do with this
Flying from BNA in January
For a January trip through BNA: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.3% on time with 7.07% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Nashville International (BNA), the whole year
- BNA in July69.6%
- BNA in August80.8%
- BNA in September85.2%
- BNA in October75.4%
- BNA in November79.0%
- BNA in December74.9%
- BNA in February81.0%
- BNA in March75.1%
- BNA in April77.7%
- BNA in May70.6%
- BNA in June65.5%
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.