Airport month record
HNLDEC
Daniel K. Inouye International in December 2025
- Departures
- 5,054
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 6
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at HNL, see live FAA status.
HNL in December lands a B+, 3 points better than the national rate of 73.2%. About one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 5,054 flights, of which United Airlines flew 469 at 86.9% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 86.9% on time across 469 flights.
Key figures
On time
76.1%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 5,014 completed departures
Avg delay
58 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.67%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
82.9%
HNL across all twelve months
These figures cover 5,054 departures from Daniel K. Inouye 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 HNL's other months
Against HNL's own year, December ran 7 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 82.9%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, November ran 84.2% on time and January 79.7%, 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 | 5,176 | 83.9% | 56 min | 1.22% | B |
| August 2025 | 4,921 | 88.7% | 55 min | 0.22% | A+ |
| September 2025 | 4,480 | 91.4% | 61 min | 0.25% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 4,682 | 87.4% | 58 min | 0.53% | A+ |
| November 2025 | 4,623 | 84.2% | 50 min | 1.64% | B |
| December 2025 (this page) | 5,054 | 76.1% | 58 min | 0.67% | B+ |
| January 2026 | 5,054 | 79.7% | 59 min | 1.37% | B |
| February 2026 | 4,464 | 81.8% | 55 min | 0.90% | B+ |
| March 2026 | 5,037 | 73.7% | 56 min | 2.24% | C |
| April 2026 | 4,809 | 82.8% | 47 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 4,953 | 82.7% | 47 min | 1.13% | B |
| June 2026 | 4,899 | 83.7% | 44 min | 0.69% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave HNL in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am520 flights89.0%
- 8am–11am867 flights84.1%
- 11am–2pm980 flights73.9%
- 2pm–5pm945 flights65.5%
- 5pm–8pm754 flights71.8%
- 8pm–5am988 flights77.8%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.0% of the time, against 65.5% for the afternoon window. That is 24 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 988 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 81.3% on time and Saturday the weakest at 73.0%. 8 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at HNL in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 86.9% of the time; Hawaiian Airlines manages 70.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,781 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Airlines | 2,781 | 70.9% | 56 min | 0.65% | C+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,033 | 86.4% | 43 min | 0.29% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 469 | 86.9% | 71 min | 1.07% | A |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 343 | 79.6% | 70 min | 1.17% | B |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 240 | 75.5% | 74 min | 0.83% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 188 | 63.4% | 64 min | 1.06% | D |
The spread between United and Hawaiian is 16 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 16 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of HNL in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HNL to OGG · Kahului | 870 | 79.0% | 40 min | 0.23% | B+ |
| HNL to LIH · Lihue | 657 | 78.9% | 45 min | 0.15% | B+ |
| HNL to KOA · Kailua-Kona | 607 | 81.2% | 41 min | 0.16% | B+ |
| HNL to ITO · Hilo | 540 | 78.7% | 37 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| HNL to LAX · Los Angeles | 490 | 77.2% | 81 min | 1.63% | B |
| HNL to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 255 | 70.8% | 133 min | 0.39% | C+ |
| HNL to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 222 | 82.3% | 46 min | 3.15% | B− |
| HNL to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 183 | 69.9% | 48 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 155 | 57.6% | 64 min | 1.94% | D |
| HNL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 107 | 72.6% | 34 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 89 | 75.3% | 89 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| HNL to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 76 | 71.6% | 128 min | 2.63% | C |
| HNL to SJC · San Josethin sample | 73 | 69.9% | 31 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 62 | 71.0% | 41 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 62 | 73.3% | 36 min | 3.23% | C− |
| HNL to LGB · Long Beachthin sample | 62 | 70.0% | 39 min | 3.23% | C− |
| HNL to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 62 | 67.7% | 71 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to DEN · Denverthin sample | 61 | 88.5% | 41 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| HNL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 57 | 69.1% | 108 min | 1.75% | C |
| HNL to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 54 | 70.4% | 67 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| HNL to ANC · Anchoragethin sample | 52 | 46.2% | 65 min | 0.00% | F+ |
| HNL to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 44 | 67.4% | 65 min | 2.27% | C |
| HNL to ONT · Ontariothin sample | 31 | 45.2% | 49 min | 0.00% | F+ |
| HNL to GUM · Hagatnathin sample | 31 | 87.1% | 74 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| HNL to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 31 | 71.0% | 42 min | 0.00% | C+ |
Delay causes
What held HNL up in December
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 58% of the 69,000 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.
- 58%Carrier
- 34%Late-arriving aircraft
- 6%National Airspace System
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
34% 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 69,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 21 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 69,033 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.67%, 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.
5.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 10.0%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from HNL in December
For a December trip through HNL: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 89.0% on time, and with 5.6% 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
- Daniel K. Inouye International (HNL), the whole year
- HNL in July83.9%
- HNL in August88.7%
- HNL in September91.4%
- HNL in October87.4%
- HNL in November84.2%
- HNL in January79.7%
- HNL in February81.8%
- HNL in March73.7%
- HNL in April82.8%
- HNL in May82.7%
- HNL in June83.7%
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.