Airport month record
JFKJAN
John F. Kennedy International in January 2026
- Departures
- 8,022
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 6
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at JFK, see live FAA status.
JFK in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 7.1% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, close to three flights in four 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 8,022 flights, of which American Airlines flew 1,261 at 78.6% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 78.6% on time across 1,261 flights.
Key figures
On time
73.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 7,432 completed departures
Avg delay
69 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
7.12%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
75.7%
JFK across all twelve months
These figures cover 8,022 departures from John F. Kennedy International 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 JFK's other months
Against JFK's own year, January ran 2 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 75.7%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 7.12% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.3 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 65.6% on time and February 75.2%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse 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 | 8,856 | 65.6% | 76 min | 4.02% | C− |
| January 2026 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time is the single lever a traveller controls, and it moves the odds more than most people expect. Each bar below is the on-time rate for flights scheduled to leave inside that window, across 8,022 flights.
- 5am–8am1,254 flights77.5%
- 8am–11am1,578 flights76.1%
- 11am–2pm1,266 flights76.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,372 flights71.3%
- 5pm–8pm1,525 flights70.9%
- 8pm–5am1,027 flights68.2%
Scale runs 60% to 85%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 77.5% of the time, against 68.2% for the overnight window. That is 9 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,578 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 84.4% on time and Sunday the weakest at 57.1%. 27 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at JFK in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 78.6% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 70.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,578 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 2,578 | 70.2% | 67 min | 7.10% | C− |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,419 | 74.9% | 63 min | 5.54% | C− |
| American Airlines | 1,261 | 78.6% | 91 min | 8.49% | B− |
| Republic Airways | 1,234 | 76.4% | 61 min | 9.89% | B− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 282 | 68.4% | 82 min | 5.32% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 248 | 63.9% | 79 min | 4.03% | D− |
Republic Airways cancels 9.9% 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 January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JFK to LAX · Los Angeles | 825 | 71.9% | 71 min | 5.33% | C− |
| JFK to SFO · San Francisco | 539 | 76.1% | 62 min | 5.94% | B− |
| JFK to BOS · Boston | 481 | 77.1% | 70 min | 8.32% | B− |
| JFK to MIA · Miami | 382 | 77.0% | 77 min | 6.81% | B− |
| JFK to MCO · Orlando | 376 | 72.6% | 61 min | 5.32% | C− |
| JFK to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 353 | 70.7% | 66 min | 5.95% | C− |
| JFK to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 338 | 66.8% | 55 min | 6.51% | C− |
| JFK to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 309 | 66.1% | 70 min | 9.39% | C− |
| JFK to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 294 | 78.9% | 70 min | 4.42% | B− |
| JFK to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 276 | 79.0% | 85 min | 6.88% | B− |
| JFK to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 207 | 68.4% | 69 min | 6.76% | C− |
| JFK to TPA · Tampathin sample | 197 | 67.7% | 54 min | 5.58% | C− |
| JFK to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 187 | 66.9% | 62 min | 4.81% | C− |
| JFK to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 184 | 71.2% | 70 min | 11.41% | C− |
| JFK to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 181 | 57.4% | 66 min | 9.94% | D− |
| JFK to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 179 | 72.9% | 51 min | 5.59% | C− |
| JFK to AUS · Austinthin sample | 175 | 87.6% | 87 min | 8.00% | A− |
| JFK to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 159 | 69.3% | 62 min | 5.03% | C− |
| JFK to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 154 | 85.9% | 125 min | 11.69% | A− |
| JFK to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 148 | 71.5% | 82 min | 7.43% | C− |
| JFK to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 128 | 82.9% | 102 min | 7.81% | B− |
| JFK to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 127 | 77.1% | 75 min | 5.51% | B− |
| JFK to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 119 | 79.4% | 61 min | 10.08% | B− |
| JFK to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 118 | 72.9% | 69 min | 9.32% | C− |
| JFK to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 110 | 76.3% | 52 min | 11.82% | B− |
Delay causes
What held JFK up in January
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 136,000 reported delay minutes.
- 37%Carrier
- 31%Late-arriving aircraft
- 26%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 37%, 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 50,000 of the 136,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 135,907 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 7.12%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in fifteen 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. 9.2% 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 JFK in January
For a January trip through JFK: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 77.5% on time, and with 9.2% 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 December65.6%
- 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.