Airport month record
MKEJAN
Milwaukee Mitchell International in January 2026
- Departures
- 2,077
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at MKE, see live FAA status.
MKE in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.7% 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 2,077 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 722 at 79.8% on time.
The national on-time rate over the same period is 79.2%, so mke in january runs 5 points behind the country as a whole. Across a thousand flights that is about 54 extra late arrivals.
Key figures
On time
73.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 1,993 completed departures
Avg delay
78 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.71%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
78.1%
MKE across all twelve months
These figures cover 2,077 departures from Milwaukee Mitchell 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 MKE's other months
Against MKE's own year, January ran 4 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 78.1%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 3.71% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.5 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 70.1% on time and February 82.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 2,315 | 83.0% | 64 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| October 2025 | 2,564 | 79.6% | 79 min | 0.31% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 2,230 | 79.2% | 81 min | 4.26% | B− |
| December 2025 | 2,273 | 70.1% | 92 min | 1.89% | C |
| January 2026 (this page) | 2,077 | 73.8% | 78 min | 3.71% | C− |
| February 2026 | 2,033 | 82.7% | 79 min | 1.33% | B |
| March 2026 | 2,626 | 74.3% | 98 min | 6.25% | C− |
| April 2026 | 2,588 | 80.7% | 86 min | 2.20% | B |
| May 2026 | 2,735 | 80.6% | 65 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 2,657 | 79.2% | 72 min | 2.11% | B |
| July 2026 | 2,759 | 76.5% | 82 min | 2.97% | B |
| August 2026 | 2,715 | 77.2% | 85 min | 2.62% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave MKE 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 2,077 flights.
- 5am–8am741 flights75.9%
- 8am–11am237 flights66.8%
- 11am–2pm404 flights74.0%
- 2pm–5pm403 flights74.6%
- 5pm–8pm269 flights72.3%
- 8pm–5am23 flights—
Scale runs 60% to 80%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 75.9% of the time, against 66.8% for the morning 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 741 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 84.4% on time and Sunday the weakest at 65.2%, a spread of 19 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MKE in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 79.8% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 66.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 507 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 722 | 79.8% | 47 min | 2.35% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 507 | 66.0% | 89 min | 1.78% | C |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 226 | 82.0% | 113 min | 4.87% | B− |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 200 | 64.7% | 132 min | 8.00% | D− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 161 | 76.2% | 73 min | 8.07% | B− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 66 | 73.4% | 38 min | 3.03% | C− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 63 | 75.0% | 46 min | 11.11% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 62 | 66.1% | 52 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 38 | 70.3% | 67 min | 2.63% | C |
The spread between Southwest and SkyWest is 14 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 14 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MKE in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MKE to ORD · Chicago | 372 | 66.9% | 87 min | 2.96% | C |
| MKE to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 169 | 83.5% | 136 min | 5.33% | B− |
| MKE to DEN · Denverthin sample | 155 | 78.6% | 58 min | 0.65% | B+ |
| MKE to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 135 | 70.7% | 47 min | 1.48% | C |
| MKE to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 115 | 75.0% | 54 min | 9.57% | B− |
| MKE to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 113 | 70.3% | 111 min | 1.77% | C |
| MKE to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 113 | 69.9% | 86 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MKE to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 103 | 67.0% | 85 min | 1.94% | C |
| MKE to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 93 | 66.3% | 157 min | 10.75% | C− |
| MKE to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 70 | 84.6% | 35 min | 7.14% | B− |
| MKE to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 70 | 81.2% | 45 min | 1.43% | B |
| MKE to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 63 | 80.4% | 122 min | 9.52% | B− |
| MKE to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 62 | 74.1% | 53 min | 6.45% | C− |
| MKE to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 61 | 68.4% | 54 min | 6.56% | C− |
| MKE to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 57 | 87.3% | 57 min | 3.51% | A− |
| MKE to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 44 | 87.8% | 39 min | 6.82% | A− |
| MKE to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 44 | 74.4% | 38 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MKE to TPA · Tampathin sample | 34 | 79.4% | 35 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MKE to MIA · Miamithin sample | 31 | 64.5% | 34 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| MKE to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 31 | 67.9% | 48 min | 9.68% | C− |
| MKE to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 31 | 76.7% | 41 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held MKE up in January
Carrier accounts for 52% of the 41,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 52%Carrier
- 21%National Airspace System
- 17%Late-arriving aircraft
- 10%Extreme weather
The largest share of delay minutes, 52%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 21,000 of the 41,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 40,872 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.71%, against 4.71% 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.
9.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from MKE in January
For a January trip through MKE: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 75.9% on time, and with 9.0% 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
- Milwaukee Mitchell International (MKE), the whole year
- MKE in September83.0%
- MKE in October79.6%
- MKE in November79.2%
- MKE in December70.1%
- MKE in February82.7%
- MKE in March74.3%
- MKE in April80.7%
- MKE in May80.6%
- MKE in June79.2%
- MKE in July76.5%
- MKE in August77.2%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.