Airport month record
DTWJAN
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in January 2026
- Departures
- 9,518
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at DTW, see live FAA status.
DTW in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.9% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about two flights in three arrive on time, worth a D− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 9,518 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 448 at 75.7% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 75.7% on time across 448 flights.
Key figures
On time
64.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 9,132 completed departures
Avg delay
83 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.92%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
76.9%
DTW across all twelve months
These figures cover 9,518 departures from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County 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 DTW's other months
Against DTW's own year, January ran 12 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 76.9%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 3.92% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.2 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 62.0% on time and February 75.7%, 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 | 9,934 | 62.0% | 87 min | 2.52% | D |
| January 2026 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 14 points, against 22 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,218 flights73.9%
- 8am–11am2,312 flights63.3%
- 11am–2pm1,150 flights69.0%
- 2pm–5pm1,969 flights63.3%
- 5pm–8pm1,147 flights60.2%
- 8pm–5am1,722 flights62.4%
Scale runs 50% to 80%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 60.2% on time, against 73.9% 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 2,312 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 75.2% on time and Sunday the weakest at 55.1%. 20 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at DTW in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Republic Airways arrives on time 75.7% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 53.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,391 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,549 | 67.2% | 69 min | 2.73% | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,391 | 53.6% | 108 min | 4.10% | F− |
| Spirit Airlines | 713 | 69.6% | 59 min | 5.05% | C− |
| Republic Airways | 448 | 75.7% | 83 min | 6.25% | B− |
| American Airlines | 415 | 74.9% | 97 min | 10.36% | C− |
| Southwest Airlinesthin sample | 337 | 78.7% | 44 min | 2.37% | B |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 203 | 56.9% | 120 min | 2.46% | D |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 191 | 70.5% | 68 min | 12.57% | C− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 157 | 61.8% | 72 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 63 | 61.4% | 40 min | 9.52% | D− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 37 | 77.8% | 53 min | 2.70% | B |
American Airlines cancels 10.4% 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 DTW in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTW to ORD · Chicago | 407 | 58.9% | 100 min | 2.95% | D |
| DTW to ATL · Atlanta | 397 | 70.1% | 77 min | 3.02% | C− |
| DTW to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 349 | 76.6% | 75 min | 8.02% | B− |
| DTW to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 331 | 61.2% | 72 min | 1.21% | D |
| DTW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 294 | 76.9% | 69 min | 9.86% | B− |
| DTW to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 294 | 75.9% | 66 min | 6.80% | B− |
| DTW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 262 | 64.0% | 86 min | 9.92% | D− |
| DTW to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 253 | 71.1% | 67 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DTW to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 252 | 60.2% | 67 min | 1.19% | D |
| DTW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 249 | 59.2% | 54 min | 10.04% | D− |
| DTW to TPA · Tampathin sample | 225 | 65.5% | 70 min | 0.89% | C+ |
| DTW to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 218 | 64.0% | 80 min | 3.21% | D− |
| DTW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 218 | 72.8% | 60 min | 7.34% | C− |
| DTW to DEN · Denverthin sample | 218 | 67.9% | 55 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DTW to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 201 | 67.7% | 92 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| DTW to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 183 | 58.8% | 91 min | 2.73% | D |
| DTW to MIA · Miamithin sample | 182 | 66.9% | 82 min | 2.20% | C |
| DTW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 167 | 74.7% | 56 min | 5.39% | C− |
| DTW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 166 | 69.3% | 61 min | 7.83% | C− |
| DTW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 159 | 76.0% | 58 min | 3.14% | B− |
| DTW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 156 | 70.8% | 73 min | 1.28% | C |
| DTW to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 135 | 68.4% | 74 min | 1.48% | C |
| DTW to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 130 | 70.9% | 69 min | 1.54% | C |
| DTW to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 126 | 63.5% | 85 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| DTW to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 122 | 66.7% | 75 min | 1.64% | C |
Delay causes
What held DTW up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 54% of the 266,000 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.
- 54%Carrier
- 20%National Airspace System
- 13%Extreme weather
- 13%Late-arriving aircraft
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 13% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the comparison with the other months below is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 10%, so this operation carries roughly 1.4 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 266,032 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.92%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in 25 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. 14.5% 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 DTW in January
For a January trip through DTW: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 73.9% on time, and with 14.5% 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
- 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 December62.0%
- 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.