Airport month record
CHSJAN
Charleston International in January 2026
- Departures
- 1,817
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at CHS, see live FAA status.
CHS in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 6.7% 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 1,817 flights, with a median arrival 10 minutes early.
Key figures
On time
82.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 1,691 completed departures
Avg delay
86 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
6.66%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
78.9%
CHS across all twelve months
These figures cover 1,817 departures from Charleston 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 CHS's other months
Against CHS's own year, January ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 78.9%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 6.66% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.7 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 75.9% on time and February 81.8%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 1,881 | 84.5% | 67 min | 0.32% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 2,149 | 79.5% | 81 min | 0.47% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 2,082 | 80.6% | 87 min | 2.21% | B |
| December 2025 | 2,030 | 75.9% | 87 min | 1.92% | B |
| January 2026 (this page) | 1,817 | 82.3% | 86 min | 6.66% | B− |
| February 2026 | 1,680 | 81.8% | 77 min | 3.75% | B− |
| March 2026 | 2,199 | 78.9% | 89 min | 4.23% | B− |
| April 2026 | 2,167 | 81.5% | 81 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 2,200 | 80.9% | 82 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 2,117 | 77.5% | 89 min | 2.41% | B |
| July 2026 | 2,172 | 71.6% | 102 min | 3.87% | C− |
| August 2026 | 2,023 | 73.0% | 86 min | 2.97% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave CHS in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 35 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am345 flights88.5%
- 8am–11am262 flights91.4%
- 11am–2pm396 flights81.4%
- 2pm–5pm345 flights78.2%
- 5pm–8pm409 flights79.4%
- 8pm–5am60 flights56.4%
Scale runs 50% to 95%.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 56.4% on time, against 91.4% for the 8am–11am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 409 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 87.3% on time and Sunday the weakest at 70.8%, a spread of 17 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at CHS in January
Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 353 | 81.4% | 82 min | 9.63% | B− |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 329 | 81.1% | 115 min | 8.21% | B− |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 285 | 90.2% | 53 min | 3.16% | A− |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 233 | 91.0% | 66 min | 5.15% | A− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 217 | 81.1% | 88 min | 5.07% | B− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 108 | 91.0% | 90 min | 6.48% | A− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 100 | 75.6% | 110 min | 10.00% | B− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 78 | 62.9% | 85 min | 8.97% | D− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 43 | 72.5% | 66 min | 6.98% | C− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 42 | 58.5% | 97 min | 2.38% | D |
Route by route
Busiest routes out of CHS in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHS to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 247 | 91.2% | 43 min | 2.43% | A |
| CHS to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 206 | 84.4% | 113 min | 9.71% | B− |
| CHS to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 145 | 80.7% | 59 min | 2.07% | B |
| CHS to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 143 | 69.5% | 93 min | 10.49% | C− |
| CHS to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 114 | 86.4% | 139 min | 9.65% | A− |
| CHS to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 110 | 82.2% | 97 min | 8.18% | B− |
| CHS to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 99 | 84.3% | 141 min | 10.10% | B− |
| CHS to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 96 | 90.1% | 41 min | 5.21% | A− |
| CHS to MIA · Miamithin sample | 87 | 81.5% | 80 min | 5.75% | B− |
| CHS to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 83 | 75.0% | 64 min | 13.25% | B− |
| CHS to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 69 | 81.0% | 129 min | 8.70% | B− |
| CHS to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 67 | 92.1% | 73 min | 5.97% | A− |
| CHS to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 57 | 75.0% | 89 min | 8.77% | B− |
| CHS to DEN · Denverthin sample | 57 | 89.1% | 67 min | 3.51% | A− |
| CHS to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 47 | 65.2% | 102 min | 2.13% | C |
| CHS to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 45 | 57.1% | 60 min | 4.44% | D− |
| CHS to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 44 | 77.5% | 108 min | 9.09% | B− |
| CHS to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 31 | 93.1% | 126 min | 6.45% | A− |
Delay causes
What held CHS up in January
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 26,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 44%Late-arriving aircraft
- 30%Carrier
- 21%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
44% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 26,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 to one. The split is drawn from 25,691 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 6.66%, 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.
7.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last an hour and a half, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from CHS in January
For a January trip through CHS: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 82.3% on time with 6.66% 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
- Charleston International (CHS), the whole year
- CHS in September84.5%
- CHS in October79.5%
- CHS in November80.6%
- CHS in December75.9%
- CHS in February81.8%
- CHS in March78.9%
- CHS in April81.5%
- CHS in May80.9%
- CHS in June77.5%
- CHS in July71.6%
- CHS in August73.0%
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.