Airport month record
DTWDEC
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in December 2025
- Departures
- 9,934
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at DTW, see live FAA status.
DTW in December draws a D. Roughly one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, and the typical late arrival is an hour and a half behind schedule. Build slack into anything you connect to. That rests on 9,934 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 477 at 70.8% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 70.8% on time across 477 flights.
Key figures
On time
62.0%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,667 completed departures
Avg delay
87 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.52%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
76.9%
DTW across all twelve months
These figures cover 9,934 departures from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County 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 DTW's other months
Against DTW's own year, December ran 15 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 76.9%, which makes it the worst of the twelve months in the data. Either side of it, November ran 78.4% on time and January 64.8%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 11,248 | 73.0% | 80 min | 1.97% | C |
| August 2025 | 10,916 | 81.3% | 68 min | 0.58% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 10,014 | 87.1% | 67 min | 0.19% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 10,950 | 85.3% | 66 min | 0.27% | A+ |
| November 2025 | 9,887 | 78.4% | 78 min | 2.59% | B |
| December 2025 (this page) | 9,934 | 62.0% | 87 min | 2.52% | D |
| January 2026 | 9,518 | 64.8% | 83 min | 3.92% | D− |
| February 2026 | 9,122 | 75.7% | 77 min | 2.13% | B |
| March 2026 | 10,701 | 71.6% | 87 min | 4.02% | C− |
| April 2026 | 10,417 | 81.1% | 65 min | 1.27% | B |
| May 2026 | 10,112 | 80.9% | 68 min | 1.27% | B |
| June 2026 | 9,869 | 79.1% | 73 min | 1.43% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DTW in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 15 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,286 flights70.7%
- 8am–11am2,401 flights65.9%
- 11am–2pm1,327 flights64.2%
- 2pm–5pm1,987 flights58.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,138 flights55.8%
- 8pm–5am1,795 flights56.7%
Scale runs 45% to 75%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 55.8% on time, against 70.7% 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 2,401 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Thursday is the strongest day at 76.5% on time and Friday the weakest at 51.8%. 25 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DTW in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 70.8% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 54.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,261 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,936 | 63.2% | 73 min | 2.25% | D |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,261 | 54.9% | 123 min | 3.36% | F− |
| Spirit Airlines | 732 | 63.9% | 75 min | 3.83% | D− |
| Republic Airways | 477 | 70.8% | 75 min | 2.31% | C |
| American Airlines | 410 | 69.8% | 77 min | 0.73% | C+ |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 359 | 68.5% | 46 min | 0.84% | C+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 261 | 59.3% | 80 min | 1.15% | D |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 201 | 60.7% | 114 min | 4.98% | D− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 151 | 67.1% | 82 min | 0.66% | C+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 78 | 65.3% | 70 min | 3.85% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 40 | 35.0% | 59 min | 0.00% | F+ |
Spirit Airlines cancels 3.8% 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 DTW in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTW to ORD · Chicago | 420 | 55.0% | 119 min | 3.57% | D− |
| DTW to ATL · Atlanta | 380 | 70.3% | 89 min | 1.32% | C |
| DTW to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 354 | 65.0% | 87 min | 6.50% | C− |
| DTW to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 343 | 62.8% | 95 min | 0.87% | D+ |
| DTW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 302 | 65.8% | 70 min | 1.32% | C |
| DTW to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 292 | 64.1% | 83 min | 5.48% | D− |
| DTW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 291 | 71.8% | 97 min | 1.37% | C |
| DTW to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 278 | 59.7% | 75 min | 1.80% | D |
| DTW to DEN · Denverthin sample | 242 | 62.9% | 54 min | 0.41% | D+ |
| DTW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 238 | 61.8% | 84 min | 4.20% | D− |
| DTW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 233 | 64.8% | 106 min | 2.58% | D |
| DTW to TPA · Tampathin sample | 233 | 61.8% | 69 min | 2.15% | D |
| DTW to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 226 | 66.2% | 58 min | 0.44% | C+ |
| DTW to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 220 | 58.3% | 74 min | 1.82% | D |
| DTW to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 213 | 62.6% | 55 min | 3.29% | D− |
| DTW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 206 | 59.5% | 65 min | 2.91% | D |
| DTW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 199 | 71.7% | 81 min | 0.50% | C+ |
| DTW to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 197 | 64.4% | 88 min | 1.52% | D |
| DTW to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 170 | 61.4% | 58 min | 2.35% | D |
| DTW to MIA · Miamithin sample | 169 | 62.4% | 58 min | 2.37% | D |
| DTW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 165 | 70.8% | 70 min | 2.42% | C |
| DTW to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 164 | 37.7% | 55 min | 1.22% | F |
| DTW to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 156 | 60.5% | 68 min | 1.92% | D |
| DTW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 155 | 65.4% | 72 min | 1.29% | C |
| DTW to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 141 | 52.9% | 69 min | 3.55% | F− |
Delay causes
What held DTW up in December
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 49% of the 319,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 49%Carrier
- 21%National Airspace System
- 19%Late-arriving aircraft
- 10%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 49%, 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 156,000 of the 319,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 319,122 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 2.52%, against 1.55% nationally. That is about one flight in 40 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. 16.7% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.0% 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 DTW in December
For a December trip through DTW: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 70.7% on time, and with 16.7% 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
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW), the whole year
- DTW in July73.0%
- DTW in August81.3%
- DTW in September87.1%
- DTW in October85.3%
- DTW in November78.4%
- DTW in January64.8%
- DTW in February75.7%
- DTW in March71.6%
- DTW in April81.1%
- DTW in May80.9%
- DTW in June79.1%
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.