Airport month record
JFKDEC
John F. Kennedy International in December 2025
- Departures
- 8,856
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 7
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at JFK, see live FAA status.
JFK in December carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.0% of scheduled flights never operate, against 1.6% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about two flights in three arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 8,856 flights, of which American Airlines flew 1,248 at 70.8% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 70.8% on time across 1,248 flights.
Key figures
On time
65.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,479 completed departures
Avg delay
76 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
4.02%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
75.7%
JFK across all twelve months
These figures cover 8,856 departures from John F. Kennedy 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 JFK's other months
Against JFK's own year, December ran 10 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it the worst of the twelve months in the data. Either side of it, November ran 75.8% on time and January 73.6%, 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 | 9,262 | 67.8% | 91 min | 6.23% | C− |
| August 2025 | 9,110 | 79.0% | 75 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 8,567 | 81.8% | 74 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 8,928 | 74.2% | 69 min | 1.46% | C |
| November 2025 | 8,626 | 75.8% | 72 min | 2.83% | B |
| December 2025 (this page) | 8,856 | 65.6% | 76 min | 4.02% | C− |
| January 2026 | 8,022 | 73.6% | 69 min | 7.12% | C− |
| February 2026 | 7,458 | 75.2% | 74 min | 8.76% | B− |
| March 2026 | 8,392 | 76.4% | 75 min | 2.10% | B |
| April 2026 | 8,254 | 81.6% | 59 min | 0.24% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 8,535 | 82.1% | 73 min | 1.08% | B |
| June 2026 | 8,750 | 75.0% | 78 min | 2.02% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave JFK in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 14 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,397 flights73.6%
- 8am–11am1,698 flights66.9%
- 11am–2pm1,409 flights72.0%
- 2pm–5pm1,477 flights62.0%
- 5pm–8pm1,700 flights59.8%
- 8pm–5am1,175 flights59.7%
Scale runs 50% to 80%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 59.7% on time, against 73.6% 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 1,700 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 80.7% on time and Sunday the weakest at 48.1%. 33 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at JFK in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 70.8% of the time; Alaska Airlines manages 59.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 367 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 2,965 | 62.2% | 76 min | 4.38% | D− |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,639 | 67.0% | 74 min | 4.93% | C− |
| Republic Airways | 1,299 | 69.2% | 67 min | 3.77% | C− |
| American Airlines | 1,248 | 70.8% | 92 min | 1.68% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 367 | 59.1% | 71 min | 2.18% | D |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 307 | 59.4% | 73 min | 5.86% | D− |
| Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample | 31 | 58.1% | 79 min | 0.00% | D+ |
Delta Air Lines cancels 4.9% 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 JFK in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JFK to LAX · Los Angeles | 895 | 69.7% | 69 min | 2.68% | C |
| JFK to SFO · San Francisco | 537 | 65.0% | 73 min | 2.79% | C |
| JFK to MCO · Orlando | 444 | 61.5% | 93 min | 4.05% | D− |
| JFK to BOS · Boston | 432 | 66.3% | 79 min | 3.70% | C− |
| JFK to ATL · Atlanta | 396 | 63.2% | 86 min | 3.79% | D− |
| JFK to MIA · Miami | 396 | 72.0% | 86 min | 3.54% | C− |
| JFK to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 385 | 55.6% | 66 min | 5.19% | D− |
| JFK to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 350 | 68.3% | 76 min | 4.57% | C− |
| JFK to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 283 | 72.4% | 74 min | 2.83% | C |
| JFK to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 270 | 63.6% | 79 min | 4.44% | D− |
| JFK to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 233 | 68.3% | 60 min | 5.15% | C− |
| JFK to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 232 | 38.2% | 56 min | 5.60% | F− |
| JFK to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 214 | 64.0% | 68 min | 4.67% | D− |
| JFK to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 212 | 66.7% | 81 min | 3.77% | C− |
| JFK to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 211 | 77.3% | 73 min | 3.32% | B− |
| JFK to TPA · Tampathin sample | 195 | 70.4% | 87 min | 3.59% | C− |
| JFK to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 194 | 56.5% | 84 min | 3.61% | D− |
| JFK to AUS · Austinthin sample | 176 | 73.4% | 119 min | 3.98% | C− |
| JFK to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 174 | 68.3% | 99 min | 4.02% | C− |
| JFK to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 168 | 68.7% | 58 min | 2.98% | C |
| JFK to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 166 | 68.5% | 54 min | 1.81% | C |
| JFK to DEN · Denverthin sample | 157 | 60.0% | 68 min | 4.46% | D− |
| JFK to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 136 | 65.2% | 72 min | 2.94% | C |
| JFK to JAX · Jacksonvillethin sample | 133 | 61.0% | 80 min | 7.52% | D− |
| JFK to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 133 | 70.5% | 52 min | 3.01% | C− |
Delay causes
What held JFK up in December
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 221,000 reported delay minutes.
- 37%Late-arriving aircraft
- 29%Carrier
- 26%National Airspace System
- 7%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
37% 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 221,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 5 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 221,401 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.02%, against 1.55% 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. 14.0% 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 JFK in December
For a December trip through JFK: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 73.6% on time, and with 14.0% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in May would.
Related
Where to go next
- John F. Kennedy International (JFK), the whole year
- JFK in July67.8%
- JFK in August79.0%
- JFK in September81.8%
- JFK in October74.2%
- JFK in November75.8%
- JFK in January73.6%
- JFK in February75.2%
- JFK in March76.4%
- JFK in April81.6%
- JFK in May82.1%
- JFK in June75.0%
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.