Airport month record
MCIJAN
Kansas City International in January 2026
- Departures
- 3,508
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at MCI, see live FAA status.
MCI in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.4% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, more than four flights in five arrive on time, worth a B− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 3,508 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 522 at 88.8% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 88.8% on time across 522 flights.
Key figures
On time
84.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,385 completed departures
Avg delay
81 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.39%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
79.6%
MCI across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,508 departures from Kansas City 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 MCI's other months
Against MCI's own year, January ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.6%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 3.39% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.2 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 74.5% on time and February 84.9%, 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 | 4,442 | 73.2% | 79 min | 1.96% | C |
| August 2025 | 4,113 | 79.7% | 64 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 3,928 | 82.0% | 58 min | 0.33% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 4,214 | 80.3% | 58 min | 0.33% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,956 | 81.1% | 72 min | 1.82% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,969 | 74.5% | 83 min | 1.36% | C |
| January 2026 (this page) | 3,508 | 84.3% | 81 min | 3.39% | B− |
| February 2026 | 3,503 | 84.9% | 69 min | 1.48% | B |
| March 2026 | 4,227 | 79.3% | 75 min | 3.41% | B− |
| April 2026 | 4,184 | 81.9% | 70 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 4,354 | 79.5% | 65 min | 1.10% | B |
| June 2026 | 4,581 | 76.7% | 73 min | 1.24% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave MCI in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 16 points, against 7 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am917 flights89.6%
- 8am–11am445 flights85.5%
- 11am–2pm697 flights86.6%
- 2pm–5pm783 flights80.9%
- 5pm–8pm612 flights78.0%
- 8pm–5am54 flights74.1%
Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.6% of the time, against 74.1% for the overnight 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. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 917 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 91.7% on time and Saturday the weakest at 73.9%. 18 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MCI in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 88.8% of the time; American Airlines manages 81.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 405 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,711 | 86.3% | 43 min | 2.05% | A |
| Delta Air Lines | 522 | 88.8% | 84 min | 2.87% | A |
| American Airlines | 405 | 81.6% | 191 min | 10.12% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 207 | 80.7% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 167 | 67.7% | 116 min | 5.39% | C− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 122 | 83.2% | 154 min | 12.30% | B− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 101 | 84.7% | 98 min | 2.97% | B |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 83 | 78.0% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 75 | 75.7% | 68 min | 1.33% | B |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 60 | 89.7% | 40 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 37 | 70.3% | 89 min | 0.00% | C+ |
American Airlines cancels 10.1% 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 MCI in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCI to DEN · Denverthin sample | 302 | 85.3% | 61 min | 0.66% | A+ |
| MCI to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 278 | 71.7% | 106 min | 2.16% | C |
| MCI to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 232 | 87.2% | 57 min | 2.59% | A |
| MCI to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 222 | 79.7% | 118 min | 2.25% | B |
| MCI to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 173 | 81.2% | 161 min | 10.98% | B− |
| MCI to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 166 | 87.3% | 41 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 162 | 86.4% | 117 min | 8.64% | A− |
| MCI to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 159 | 89.4% | 41 min | 5.03% | A− |
| MCI to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 152 | 86.2% | 34 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 146 | 77.2% | 38 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| MCI to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 140 | 89.3% | 157 min | 6.43% | A− |
| MCI to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 102 | 90.5% | 49 min | 6.86% | A− |
| MCI to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 98 | 86.5% | 48 min | 2.04% | A |
| MCI to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 95 | 80.0% | 103 min | 15.79% | B− |
| MCI to MIA · Miamithin sample | 74 | 85.9% | 150 min | 4.05% | A− |
| MCI to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 70 | 91.3% | 41 min | 1.43% | A |
| MCI to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 70 | 88.4% | 35 min | 1.43% | A |
| MCI to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 68 | 80.3% | 71 min | 1.47% | B |
| MCI to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 66 | 90.9% | 83 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 65 | 87.7% | 33 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| MCI to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 62 | 83.9% | 121 min | 9.68% | B− |
| MCI to AUS · Austinthin sample | 61 | 88.1% | 48 min | 3.28% | A− |
| MCI to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 60 | 92.9% | 38 min | 6.67% | A− |
| MCI to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 58 | 70.7% | 53 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MCI to TPA · Tampathin sample | 49 | 85.7% | 37 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held MCI 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 43,000 reported delay minutes.
- 41%Late-arriving aircraft
- 37%Carrier
- 17%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
41% 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 43,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 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 43,015 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.39%, against 4.71% nationally. That is about one flight in 30 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.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.6% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% 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.
What to do with this
Flying from MCI in January
For a January trip through MCI: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.3% on time with 3.39% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Kansas City International (MCI), the whole year
- MCI in July73.2%
- MCI in August79.7%
- MCI in September82.0%
- MCI in October80.3%
- MCI in November81.1%
- MCI in December74.5%
- MCI in February84.9%
- MCI in March79.3%
- MCI in April81.9%
- MCI in May79.5%
- MCI in June76.7%
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.