Honolulu, HI · departure reliability

HNL

Daniel K. Inouye International

Departures: 58,223
Period: June 2025 to May 2026
Carriers: 6
US rank: #34 by volume

Terminal building and aircraft stands at a US airport

Honolulu

Daniel K. Inouye International lands a B+, 6 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in six arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about 55 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 58,223 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 12,302 at 90.7% on time.

Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 90.7% on time across 12,302 flights.

On time

83.2%

Departures arriving under 15 minutes late at their destination

Avg delay

55 min

Across delayed flights only

Cancelled

0.93%

National rate is 1.80%

Best carrier

Southwest

90.7% on time here

These figures cover 58,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. The median arrival is 2 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines run best out of HNL

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 90.7% of the time; Alaska Airlines manages 75.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 15,362 flights means less than a ten-point one.

On-time performance by carrier departing HNL
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Hawaiian Airlines	19,339	82.9%	49 min	0.60%	B+
Alaska Airlines	15,362	75.9%	48 min	1.59%	B
Southwest Airlines	12,302	90.7%	46 min	0.60%	A+
United Airlines	4,957	86.4%	78 min	0.87%	A+
Delta Air Lines	3,711	86.7%	72 min	1.08%	A
American Airlines	2,552	82.7%	120 min	0.86%	B+

The spread between Southwest and Alaska is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of HNL

Route-level records vary far more than the airport average. These are the 25 busiest departures from HNL, each with its own on-time rate against the airport-wide 83.2%.

Busiest routes from HNL by flight volume
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
HNL to OGG · Kahului	10,288	85.1%	40 min	1.00%	A
HNL to LIH · Lihue	7,804	85.2%	42 min	1.27%	A
HNL to KOA · Kailua-Kona	7,317	86.2%	39 min	1.09%	A
HNL to ITO · Hilo	6,340	85.7%	40 min	0.96%	A+
HNL to LAX · Los Angeles	5,425	81.8%	80 min	0.55%	B+
HNL to SEA · Seattle	2,946	74.9%	70 min	0.88%	C+
HNL to SFO · San Francisco	2,390	82.1%	64 min	1.00%	B
HNL to LAS · Las Vegas	2,202	81.2%	54 min	0.36%	B+
HNL to SAN · San Diego	1,754	77.7%	55 min	0.68%	B+
HNL to PHX · Phoenix	1,317	84.5%	80 min	1.14%	B
HNL to PDX · Portland	920	76.3%	74 min	1.09%	B
HNL to SLC · Salt Lake City	857	83.3%	70 min	0.93%	B+
HNL to SJC · San Jose	807	84.3%	55 min	0.00%	B+
HNL to LGB · Long Beach	730	81.8%	36 min	0.27%	B+
HNL to SMF · Sacramento	730	78.4%	67 min	0.14%	B+
HNL to OAK · Oakland	730	82.6%	49 min	0.00%	B+
HNL to JFK · New York	659	83.1%	53 min	1.06%	B
HNL to DEN · Denver	639	86.1%	70 min	0.78%	A+
HNL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth	610	76.9%	106 min	1.97%	B
HNL to ORD · Chicago	540	86.0%	96 min	0.93%	A+
HNL to ANC · Anchorage	440	68.6%	56 min	0.91%	C+
HNL to ATL · Atlanta	383	80.3%	73 min	0.52%	B+
HNL to IAH · Houston	373	79.7%	51 min	0.54%	B+
HNL to MSP · Minneapolis	365	85.5%	82 min	1.37%	A
HNL to ONT · Ontario	365	77.5%	64 min	0.27%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave HNL

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 16 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am6,397 flights92.8%
8am–11am9,435 flights89.0%
11am–2pm13,228 flights78.7%
2pm–5pm10,351 flights76.6%
5pm–8pm7,755 flights83.8%
8pm–5am11,057 flights84.1%

Scale runs 70% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.8% of the time, against 76.6% for the afternoon window. That is 16 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.

Across the year

When HNL runs late

HNL's year swings by 18 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.

Darker means more delays. Figures are on-time percentages.September best, March worst

September is the best month on the calendar at 91.4% on time. Shoulder season thins the schedule and takes the summer weather with it, and the operation gets its margin back.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 86.2% on time and Friday the weakest at 79.8%. 6 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Delay causes

Why HNL gets delayed

One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 56% of the 526,000 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.

Carrier
56%
Late-arriving aircraft
32%
National Airspace System
8%
Extreme weather
3%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 56%, 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 295,000 of the 526,000 delay minutes reported here.

The practical consequence: the 5am–8am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 92.8% on time here.

Cancellations sit at 0.93% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.12%.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 3.7% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

58,223 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.

What to do with this

Flying out of HNL

Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 91.4% on time and March 73.7%, a swing of 18 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of March before you think about anything else.

Common questions

HNL delay questions

How often is Honolulu (HNL) delayed?

About one flight in six arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 16.8% of the 58,223 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about 55 minutes on average.

Which airline is most reliable on Honolulu (HNL)?

Southwest Airlines leads at 90.7% on time across 12,302 flights. Alaska Airlines is at the other end on 75.9%, a gap of 15 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.

What time of day has the fewest delays on Honolulu (HNL)?

The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 92.8% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 76.6%, 16 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.

How bad are March delays on Honolulu (HNL)?

March is the weakest month at 73.7% on time, compared with 91.4% in September. Across the year that is 18 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.

Where to go next

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures