Airport month record

BWIJAN

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall in January 2026

Departures: 6,934
Month: January 2026
National, same month: 79.2%
Carriers: 9

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

BWI in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 5.6% 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 6,934 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 374 at 85.4% on time.

On time

82.9%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 6,539 completed departures

Avg delay

53 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

5.61%

Nationally in January: 4.71%

Whole year

77.6%

BWI across all twelve months

These figures cover 6,934 departures from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall 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 BWI's other months

Against BWI's own year, January ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 77.6%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 5.61% of scheduled departures were called off, 3.3 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 70.4% on time and February 83.1%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

BWI month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	8,922	66.2%	92 min	3.64%	C−
August 2025	8,381	78.8%	62 min	0.76%	B+
September 2025	7,968	85.5%	56 min	0.18%	A+
October 2025	8,475	81.4%	49 min	0.14%	B+
November 2025	7,721	82.9%	62 min	1.80%	B
December 2025	7,863	70.4%	54 min	1.27%	C
January 2026 (this page)	6,934	82.9%	53 min	5.61%	B−
February 2026	6,552	83.1%	58 min	3.59%	B−
March 2026	7,803	74.6%	69 min	2.58%	C
April 2026	8,041	79.9%	55 min	0.34%	B+
May 2026	8,161	76.7%	59 min	0.28%	B+
June 2026	8,045	70.9%	63 min	1.16%	C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave BWI in January

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 13 points, against 2 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am895 flights88.8%
8am–11am1,700 flights87.4%
11am–2pm1,115 flights84.4%
2pm–5pm1,123 flights82.3%
5pm–8pm1,267 flights76.5%
8pm–5am834 flights76.3%

Scale runs 70% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 88.8% of the time, against 76.3% for the overnight window. That is 13 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 1,700 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 91.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 72.0%. 19 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at BWI in January

The two carriers here are closely matched: 2 points separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.

Carriers at BWI in January 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	5,346	83.8%	44 min	5.03%	B−
Delta Air Lines	374	85.4%	84 min	6.42%	A−
United Airlinesthin sample	297	84.7%	49 min	5.39%	B−
American Airlinesthin sample	281	82.7%	118 min	9.61%	B−
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	247	69.2%	90 min	8.10%	C−
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	204	75.0%	62 min	9.80%	B−
Republic Airwaysthin sample	91	84.5%	73 min	7.69%	B−
Envoy Airthin sample	56	73.1%	59 min	7.14%	C−
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	37	65.7%	49 min	5.41%	C−

Delta Air Lines cancels 6.4% 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 BWI in January

Routes from BWI in January 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
BWI to MCO · Orlando	411	79.6%	50 min	4.62%	B−
BWI to ATL · Atlanta	379	83.1%	75 min	6.33%	B−
BWI to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	295	76.8%	51 min	6.44%	B−
BWI to BOS · Bostonthin sample	239	83.6%	54 min	5.44%	B−
BWI to MIA · Miamithin sample	213	76.0%	72 min	6.10%	B−
BWI to TPA · Tampathin sample	207	84.0%	47 min	3.38%	B−
BWI to CLT · Charlottethin sample	201	86.3%	66 min	8.96%	A−
BWI to DEN · Denverthin sample	200	78.0%	37 min	4.50%	B−
BWI to DTW · Detroitthin sample	159	83.7%	67 min	3.77%	B−
BWI to ORD · Chicagothin sample	151	73.4%	60 min	5.30%	C−
BWI to DAL · Dallasthin sample	136	85.5%	53 min	8.82%	A−
BWI to BDL · Hartfordthin sample	132	84.8%	50 min	5.30%	B−
BWI to MHT · Manchesterthin sample	132	89.8%	45 min	3.03%	A−
BWI to RDU · Raleighthin sample	132	85.8%	40 min	9.09%	A−
BWI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	130	89.1%	55 min	8.46%	A−
BWI to ALB · Albanythin sample	129	88.6%	46 min	4.65%	A−
BWI to PVD · Providencethin sample	129	82.1%	44 min	4.65%	B−
BWI to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	128	74.6%	48 min	3.91%	C−
BWI to BUF · Buffalothin sample	128	83.6%	42 min	3.91%	B−
BWI to MDW · Chicagothin sample	127	86.7%	50 min	3.94%	A−
BWI to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample	126	78.7%	46 min	3.17%	B−
BWI to ORF · Norfolkthin sample	120	91.1%	49 min	6.67%	A−
BWI to IAH · Houstonthin sample	119	87.3%	61 min	7.56%	A−
BWI to SJU · San Juanthin sample	108	68.8%	51 min	11.11%	C−
BWI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	107	76.0%	35 min	6.54%	B−

Delay causes

What held BWI 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 59,000 reported delay minutes.

Carrier
39%
Late-arriving aircraft
35%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
5%
Security
1%

35% 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 59,000 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 58,800 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations run at 5.61%, against 4.71% nationally. That is roughly 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.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.2% 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 BWI in January

For a January trip through BWI: expect 82.9% on time and 5.61% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI), the whole year
BWI in July66.2%
BWI in August78.8%
BWI in September85.5%
BWI in October81.4%
BWI in November82.9%
BWI in December70.4%
BWI in February83.1%
BWI in March74.6%
BWI in April79.9%
BWI in May76.7%
BWI in June70.9%

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