Airport month record
DFWDEC
Dallas/Fort Worth International in December 2025
- Departures
- 25,770
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at DFW, see live FAA status.
DFW in December sits in the middle of the pack with a C+. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 2 points worse than the national rate of 73.2%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 25,770 flights, of which Envoy Air flew 4,850 at 84.4% on time.
Envoy Air is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 84.4% on time across 4,850 flights.
Key figures
On time
71.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 25,515 completed departures
Avg delay
67 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.62%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
72.8%
DFW across all twelve months
These figures cover 25,770 departures from Dallas/Fort Worth International in December 2025. 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
December next to DFW's other months
Against DFW's own year, December ran about a point worse than the twelve-month rate of 72.8%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for DFW in December, at 0.62% against 2.61% across the year. Either side of it, November ran 74.3% on time and January 75.4%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 25,641 | 77.4% | 74 min | 1.87% | B |
| October 2025 | 27,182 | 75.0% | 64 min | 1.20% | B |
| November 2025 | 25,032 | 74.3% | 76 min | 3.47% | C− |
| December 2025 (this page) | 25,770 | 71.7% | 67 min | 0.62% | C+ |
| January 2026 | 24,229 | 75.4% | 79 min | 9.85% | B− |
| February 2026 | 22,019 | 78.9% | 63 min | 1.31% | B |
| March 2026 | 26,008 | 73.4% | 76 min | 2.51% | C |
| April 2026 | 25,686 | 73.9% | 66 min | 1.33% | C |
| May 2026 | 27,419 | 72.7% | 74 min | 3.34% | C− |
| June 2026 | 27,815 | 63.6% | 82 min | 4.55% | D− |
| July 2026 | 28,623 | 66.2% | 81 min | 1.20% | C |
| August 2026 | 27,347 | 73.5% | 68 min | 0.54% | C+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DFW in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 19 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,457 flights81.7%
- 8am–11am5,594 flights78.8%
- 11am–2pm4,378 flights73.8%
- 2pm–5pm4,622 flights68.9%
- 5pm–8pm5,008 flights63.4%
- 8pm–5am3,711 flights66.9%
Scale runs 55% to 85%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 63.4% on time, against 81.7% for the 5am–8am 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 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 5,594 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 77.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 63.2%, a spread of 14 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DFW in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Envoy Air arrives on time 84.4% of the time; American Airlines manages 65.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 13,864 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 13,864 | 65.7% | 64 min | 0.19% | C+ |
| Envoy Air | 4,850 | 84.4% | 43 min | 0.43% | B+ |
| PSA Airlines | 2,067 | 66.6% | 90 min | 1.35% | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,811 | 80.4% | 87 min | 0.11% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 980 | 78.6% | 90 min | 4.18% | B− |
| Frontier Airlines | 807 | 77.3% | 83 min | 3.10% | B− |
| United Airlines | 742 | 80.8% | 70 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 420 | 73.5% | 78 min | 1.90% | C |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 194 | 70.3% | 62 min | 1.03% | C |
Delta Air Lines cancels 4.2% 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 DFW in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW to ATL · Atlanta | 574 | 77.2% | 67 min | 2.26% | B |
| DFW to ORD · Chicago | 552 | 66.7% | 69 min | 1.27% | C |
| DFW to LGA · New York | 542 | 62.6% | 79 min | 5.17% | D− |
| DFW to LAX · Los Angeles | 508 | 73.4% | 56 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DFW to IAH · Houston | 502 | 71.5% | 59 min | 0.20% | C+ |
| DFW to DEN · Denver | 480 | 70.6% | 57 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DFW to SEA · Seattle | 453 | 60.8% | 56 min | 0.66% | D+ |
| DFW to LAS · Las Vegas | 445 | 75.6% | 51 min | 1.35% | B |
| DFW to PHX · Phoenix | 425 | 78.1% | 52 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DFW to MCO · Orlando | 411 | 69.6% | 53 min | 0.49% | C+ |
| DFW to AUS · Austin | 410 | 67.1% | 57 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DFW to MIA · Miami | 399 | 69.5% | 71 min | 0.50% | C+ |
| DFW to SAT · San Antoniothin sample | 356 | 67.6% | 61 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DFW to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 337 | 67.0% | 67 min | 0.30% | C+ |
| DFW to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 334 | 73.1% | 58 min | 0.90% | C+ |
| DFW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 322 | 78.8% | 56 min | 0.31% | B+ |
| DFW to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 304 | 70.8% | 73 min | 0.66% | C+ |
| DFW to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 297 | 73.3% | 72 min | 1.35% | C |
| DFW to XNA · Bentonvillethin sample | 291 | 79.6% | 65 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| DFW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 290 | 76.5% | 63 min | 1.38% | B |
| DFW to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 281 | 71.6% | 52 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DFW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 276 | 64.8% | 73 min | 0.72% | D+ |
| DFW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 274 | 75.1% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| DFW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 273 | 71.3% | 96 min | 1.83% | C |
| DFW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 265 | 75.1% | 62 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held DFW up in December
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 485,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 49%Late-arriving aircraft
- 38%Carrier
- 11%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
49% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 485,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 18 to one. The split is drawn from 484,996 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.62%, below the national 1.55% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
9.7% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.0% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from DFW in December
For a December trip through DFW: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 81.7% on time, and with 9.7% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in February would.
Related
Where to go next
- Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW), the whole year
- DFW in September77.4%
- DFW in October75.0%
- DFW in November74.3%
- DFW in January75.4%
- DFW in February78.9%
- DFW in March73.4%
- DFW in April73.9%
- DFW in May72.7%
- DFW in June63.6%
- DFW in July66.2%
- DFW in August73.5%
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.