Airport month record
MSPDEC
Minneapolis-St Paul International in December 2025
- Departures
- 8,854
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at MSP, see live FAA status.
MSP in December draws a D. Roughly one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, and the typical late arrival is a little over an hour behind schedule. Build slack into anything you connect to. That rests on 8,854 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 484 at 70.9% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 70.9% on time across 484 flights.
Key figures
On time
63.1%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,621 completed departures
Avg delay
78 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.28%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
79.1%
MSP across all twelve months
These figures cover 8,854 departures from Minneapolis-St Paul 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 MSP's other months
Against MSP's own year, December ran 16 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.1%, which makes it the worst of the twelve months in the data. Cancellations are where December stands out: 2.28% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.7 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, November ran 82.1% on time and January 72.9%, 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 | 10,565 | 74.1% | 77 min | 0.89% | C+ |
| August 2025 | 10,305 | 81.5% | 68 min | 0.47% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 9,559 | 85.6% | 59 min | 0.10% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 9,657 | 84.7% | 60 min | 0.22% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 8,806 | 82.1% | 75 min | 2.16% | B |
| December 2025 (this page) | 8,854 | 63.1% | 78 min | 2.28% | D |
| January 2026 | 8,055 | 72.9% | 74 min | 2.41% | C |
| February 2026 | 7,923 | 80.4% | 69 min | 1.12% | B |
| March 2026 | 9,608 | 77.2% | 80 min | 5.04% | B− |
| April 2026 | 9,639 | 83.9% | 68 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 10,400 | 83.4% | 73 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 10,491 | 77.9% | 67 min | 0.92% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave MSP in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,246 flights78.6%
- 8am–11am1,778 flights67.7%
- 11am–2pm1,691 flights62.0%
- 2pm–5pm1,404 flights56.3%
- 5pm–8pm1,277 flights54.6%
- 8pm–5am1,458 flights59.6%
Scale runs 45% to 85%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 54.6% on time, against 78.6% 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 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,778 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 71.7% on time and Friday the weakest at 56.4%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MSP in December
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 70.9% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 58.7%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,017 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 5,203 | 64.8% | 67 min | 2.29% | D |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,017 | 58.7% | 100 min | 2.83% | D |
| Southwest Airlines | 484 | 70.9% | 65 min | 0.41% | C+ |
| United Airlines | 366 | 59.8% | 78 min | 1.09% | D |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 328 | 68.8% | 90 min | 0.30% | C+ |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 114 | 56.6% | 123 min | 6.14% | D− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 98 | 47.9% | 69 min | 4.08% | F− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 87 | 42.4% | 53 min | 2.30% | F |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 86 | 63.9% | 74 min | 2.33% | D |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 70 | 56.9% | 103 min | 5.71% | D− |
The spread between Southwest and SkyWest is 12 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 12 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MSP in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSP to ORD · Chicago | 502 | 50.1% | 89 min | 3.39% | F− |
| MSP to DEN · Denver | 439 | 62.0% | 70 min | 0.68% | D+ |
| MSP to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 276 | 65.9% | 95 min | 1.09% | C |
| MSP to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 275 | 75.6% | 67 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSP to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 268 | 64.9% | 85 min | 0.75% | D+ |
| MSP to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 215 | 62.4% | 72 min | 0.93% | D+ |
| MSP to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 213 | 65.6% | 81 min | 1.41% | C |
| MSP to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 208 | 52.2% | 63 min | 0.48% | F+ |
| MSP to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 184 | 67.9% | 81 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MSP to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 169 | 57.8% | 71 min | 8.28% | D− |
| MSP to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 169 | 77.1% | 50 min | 1.78% | B |
| MSP to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 168 | 63.8% | 40 min | 2.98% | D |
| MSP to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 164 | 70.4% | 75 min | 1.22% | C |
| MSP to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 156 | 67.5% | 64 min | 1.28% | C |
| MSP to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 150 | 61.4% | 104 min | 3.33% | D− |
| MSP to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 149 | 68.6% | 89 min | 6.04% | C− |
| MSP to AUS · Austinthin sample | 147 | 73.5% | 70 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MSP to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 147 | 68.8% | 51 min | 1.36% | C |
| MSP to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 146 | 65.2% | 54 min | 2.74% | C |
| MSP to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 144 | 68.6% | 81 min | 2.78% | C |
| MSP to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 139 | 59.7% | 79 min | 2.88% | D |
| MSP to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 128 | 70.1% | 80 min | 0.78% | C+ |
| MSP to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 122 | 70.7% | 52 min | 4.10% | C− |
| MSP to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 119 | 48.3% | 53 min | 2.52% | F |
| MSP to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 119 | 56.0% | 56 min | 0.84% | D+ |
Delay causes
What held MSP up in December
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 48% of the 246,000 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.
- 48%Carrier
- 25%National Airspace System
- 17%Late-arriving aircraft
- 10%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 48%, 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 119,000 of the 246,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 246,402 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.28% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.35%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 14.4% 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 MSP in December
For a December trip through MSP: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 78.6% on time, and with 14.4% 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
- Minneapolis-St Paul International (MSP), the whole year
- MSP in July74.1%
- MSP in August81.5%
- MSP in September85.6%
- MSP in October84.7%
- MSP in November82.1%
- MSP in January72.9%
- MSP in February80.4%
- MSP in March77.2%
- MSP in April83.9%
- MSP in May83.4%
- MSP in June77.9%
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.