Airport month record
CLEJAN
Cleveland Hopkins International in January 2026
- Departures
- 2,874
- 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 CLE, see live FAA status.
CLE in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 5.3% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 2,874 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 377 at 85.0% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 85.0% on time across 377 flights.
Key figures
On time
74.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,716 completed departures
Avg delay
79 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
5.32%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
79.6%
CLE across all twelve months
These figures cover 2,874 departures from Cleveland Hopkins 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 CLE's other months
Against CLE's own year, January ran 5 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 5.32% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.4 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 71.2% on time and February 81.1%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 3,564 | 75.7% | 90 min | 3.84% | B− |
| August 2025 | 3,492 | 81.8% | 76 min | 1.80% | B |
| September 2025 | 3,240 | 85.8% | 82 min | 0.62% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 3,467 | 82.0% | 74 min | 0.46% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,237 | 78.8% | 84 min | 2.35% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,252 | 71.2% | 76 min | 3.20% | C− |
| January 2026 (this page) | 2,874 | 74.2% | 79 min | 5.32% | C− |
| February 2026 | 2,770 | 81.1% | 82 min | 2.17% | B |
| March 2026 | 3,530 | 76.6% | 93 min | 3.63% | B− |
| April 2026 | 3,498 | 83.7% | 76 min | 1.00% | B |
| May 2026 | 3,745 | 84.4% | 78 min | 0.96% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 3,675 | 78.7% | 83 min | 2.23% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave CLE in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 13 points, against 26 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am758 flights80.1%
- 8am–11am495 flights74.1%
- 11am–2pm469 flights69.3%
- 2pm–5pm602 flights76.9%
- 5pm–8pm457 flights66.7%
- 8pm–5am93 flights69.3%
Scale runs 60% to 85%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 80.1% of the time, against 66.7% for the evening 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 758 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 82.2% on time and Sunday the weakest at 61.2%. 21 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at CLE in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 85.0% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 58.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 409 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 604 | 81.0% | 58 min | 0.99% | B+ |
| Republic Airways | 432 | 80.1% | 69 min | 8.33% | B− |
| Frontier Airlines | 409 | 58.9% | 79 min | 2.69% | D |
| Southwest Airlines | 377 | 85.0% | 60 min | 2.65% | A |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 262 | 71.7% | 114 min | 8.40% | C− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 246 | 73.0% | 89 min | 19.92% | C− |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 224 | 78.8% | 83 min | 3.12% | B− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 159 | 57.2% | 112 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 86 | 64.6% | 60 min | 4.65% | D− |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 31 | 55.2% | 84 min | 6.45% | D− |
Republic Airways cancels 8.3% 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 CLE in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 318 | 69.3% | 71 min | 2.83% | C |
| CLE to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 233 | 77.7% | 101 min | 3.86% | B− |
| CLE to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 191 | 88.2% | 88 min | 6.81% | A− |
| CLE to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 158 | 66.7% | 89 min | 0.63% | C+ |
| CLE to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 135 | 73.3% | 59 min | 11.11% | C− |
| CLE to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 131 | 57.1% | 80 min | 19.85% | D− |
| CLE to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 129 | 73.1% | 77 min | 15.50% | C− |
| CLE to DEN · Denverthin sample | 122 | 78.2% | 52 min | 1.64% | B |
| CLE to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 111 | 72.9% | 49 min | 3.60% | C− |
| CLE to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 109 | 62.4% | 128 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| CLE to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 106 | 68.8% | 67 min | 9.43% | C− |
| CLE to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 94 | 72.4% | 82 min | 7.45% | C− |
| CLE to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 89 | 85.3% | 75 min | 15.73% | A− |
| CLE to MIA · Miamithin sample | 84 | 69.5% | 160 min | 2.38% | C |
| CLE to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 81 | 72.5% | 84 min | 1.23% | C |
| CLE to TPA · Tampathin sample | 80 | 68.4% | 57 min | 1.25% | C |
| CLE to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 74 | 66.2% | 63 min | 2.70% | C |
| CLE to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 73 | 85.3% | 78 min | 6.85% | A− |
| CLE to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 71 | 87.3% | 39 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 67 | 69.7% | 90 min | 1.49% | C |
| CLE to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 65 | 90.2% | 32 min | 6.15% | A− |
| CLE to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 61 | 91.8% | 26 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 56 | 87.5% | 28 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| CLE to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 50 | 91.8% | 81 min | 2.00% | A |
| CLE to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 41 | 78.0% | 46 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held CLE 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 56,000 reported delay minutes.
- 37%Carrier
- 31%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%National Airspace System
- 7%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 37%, 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 20,000 of the 56,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 55,678 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 5.32%, 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.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 10.5% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% 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 CLE in January
For a January trip through CLE: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 80.1% on time, and with 10.5% 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
- Cleveland Hopkins International (CLE), the whole year
- CLE in July75.7%
- CLE in August81.8%
- CLE in September85.8%
- CLE in October82.0%
- CLE in November78.8%
- CLE in December71.2%
- CLE in February81.1%
- CLE in March76.6%
- CLE in April83.7%
- CLE in May84.4%
- CLE in June78.7%
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.