Airport month record
FLLDEC
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International in December 2025
- Departures
- 8,886
- 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 FLL, see live FAA status.
FLL in December draws a D. About one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, and the typical late arrival is a little over an hour behind schedule. Build slack into anything you connect to. That rests on 8,886 flights, of which United Airlines flew 924 at 79.3% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the seven carriers covered here at 79.3% on time across 924 flights.
Key figures
On time
64.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,681 completed departures
Avg delay
71 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.07%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
71.5%
FLL across all twelve months
These figures cover 8,886 departures from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood 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 FLL's other months
Against FLL's own year, December ran 7 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 71.5%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, November ran 77.6% on time and January 71.1%, 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 | 6,944 | 71.4% | 88 min | 2.23% | C |
| August 2025 | 6,561 | 74.6% | 73 min | 0.55% | C+ |
| September 2025 | 5,663 | 82.8% | 75 min | 0.42% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 6,591 | 80.3% | 65 min | 0.39% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 7,609 | 77.6% | 72 min | 2.42% | B |
| December 2025 (this page) | 8,886 | 64.9% | 71 min | 2.07% | D |
| January 2026 | 8,607 | 71.1% | 67 min | 4.76% | C− |
| February 2026 | 8,251 | 67.3% | 67 min | 3.95% | C− |
| March 2026 | 9,928 | 59.7% | 83 min | 4.66% | D− |
| April 2026 | 8,610 | 69.0% | 65 min | 1.06% | C |
| May 2026 | 6,437 | 74.9% | 61 min | 0.53% | C+ |
| June 2026 | 6,077 | 74.3% | 76 min | 1.14% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave FLL in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 39 points, against 25 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,471 flights86.2%
- 8am–11am1,501 flights78.0%
- 11am–2pm1,407 flights66.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,490 flights56.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,633 flights54.1%
- 8pm–5am1,384 flights47.3%
Scale runs 40% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 47.3% on time, against 86.2% 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 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 1,633 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 78.0% on time and Sunday the weakest at 48.0%. 30 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at FLL in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 79.3% of the time; Allegiant Air manages 54.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 431 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 2,285 | 59.0% | 72 min | 2.23% | D |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,833 | 60.0% | 68 min | 2.89% | D |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,188 | 71.1% | 78 min | 3.37% | C− |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,083 | 67.2% | 55 min | 1.11% | C |
| United Airlines | 924 | 79.3% | 75 min | 0.76% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 745 | 73.8% | 80 min | 0.67% | C+ |
| Allegiant Air | 431 | 54.1% | 65 min | 0.93% | F+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 302 | 58.6% | 107 min | 3.97% | D− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 95 | 54.9% | 59 min | 0.00% | F+ |
Delta Air Lines cancels 3.4% 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 FLL in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLL to ATL · Atlanta | 686 | 68.1% | 69 min | 2.62% | C |
| FLL to EWR · Newark | 486 | 61.7% | 71 min | 3.29% | D− |
| FLL to LGA · New York | 455 | 56.9% | 79 min | 5.93% | D− |
| FLL to JFK · New York | 384 | 61.5% | 80 min | 5.21% | D− |
| FLL to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 360 | 68.9% | 75 min | 0.56% | C+ |
| FLL to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 360 | 61.9% | 85 min | 2.78% | D |
| FLL to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 325 | 71.5% | 94 min | 1.54% | C |
| FLL to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 281 | 62.4% | 65 min | 2.49% | D |
| FLL to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 280 | 60.6% | 70 min | 2.14% | D |
| FLL to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 279 | 82.3% | 60 min | 0.36% | B+ |
| FLL to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 261 | 57.0% | 57 min | 1.15% | D |
| FLL to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 258 | 73.9% | 69 min | 0.39% | C+ |
| FLL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 255 | 77.9% | 78 min | 0.78% | B+ |
| FLL to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 236 | 71.4% | 71 min | 0.85% | C+ |
| FLL to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 233 | 62.2% | 71 min | 0.86% | D+ |
| FLL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 219 | 60.7% | 56 min | 2.28% | D |
| FLL to DEN · Denverthin sample | 186 | 79.3% | 81 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| FLL to TPA · Tampathin sample | 151 | 70.3% | 74 min | 1.99% | C |
| FLL to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 146 | 75.9% | 77 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| FLL to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 141 | 51.4% | 65 min | 0.71% | F+ |
| FLL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 141 | 74.5% | 79 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| FLL to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 131 | 55.1% | 77 min | 3.05% | D− |
| FLL to AUS · Austinthin sample | 121 | 47.5% | 59 min | 2.48% | F |
| FLL to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 119 | 60.3% | 66 min | 2.52% | D |
| FLL to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 103 | 67.0% | 58 min | 2.91% | C |
Delay causes
What held FLL up in December
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 48% of the 217,000 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.
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 1%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
48% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 217,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 48 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 216,753 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.07% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.24%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 14.0% 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 FLL in December
For a December trip through FLL: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 86.2% on time, and with 14.0% 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
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL), the whole year
- FLL in July71.4%
- FLL in August74.6%
- FLL in September82.8%
- FLL in October80.3%
- FLL in November77.6%
- FLL in January71.1%
- FLL in February67.3%
- FLL in March59.7%
- FLL in April69.0%
- FLL in May74.9%
- FLL in June74.3%
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.