Airport month record
MSPJAN
Minneapolis-St Paul International in January 2026
- Departures
- 8,055
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at MSP, see live FAA status.
MSP in January sits in the middle of the pack with a C. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 6 points worse than the national rate of 79.2%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 8,055 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 382 at 84.3% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 84.3% on time across 382 flights.
Key figures
On time
72.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 7,846 completed departures
Avg delay
74 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.41%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
79.1%
MSP across all twelve months
These figures cover 8,055 departures from Minneapolis-St Paul 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 MSP's other months
Against MSP's own year, January ran 6 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.1%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 2.41% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.8 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 63.1% on time and February 80.4%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| 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 | 8,854 | 63.1% | 78 min | 2.28% | D |
| January 2026 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,192 flights83.5%
- 8am–11am1,660 flights71.7%
- 11am–2pm1,504 flights72.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,299 flights70.8%
- 5pm–8pm1,242 flights65.5%
- 8pm–5am1,158 flights74.3%
Scale runs 55% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 83.5% of the time, against 65.5% for the evening window. That is 18 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 1,660 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 86.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 60.2%. 26 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at MSP in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 84.3% of the time; SkyWest Airlines manages 67.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,969 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,571 | 74.3% | 63 min | 1.86% | C |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,969 | 67.9% | 97 min | 2.23% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 382 | 84.3% | 43 min | 1.57% | B |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 357 | 70.6% | 56 min | 0.84% | C+ |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 320 | 79.0% | 106 min | 9.06% | B− |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 133 | 78.5% | 78 min | 9.02% | B− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 96 | 57.0% | 73 min | 3.12% | D− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 94 | 68.7% | 116 min | 11.70% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 76 | 70.7% | 108 min | 1.32% | C |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 57 | 63.2% | 57 min | 0.00% | D+ |
The spread between Southwest and SkyWest is 16 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 16 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of MSP in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSP to ORD · Chicago | 448 | 59.7% | 66 min | 1.79% | D |
| MSP to DEN · Denver | 408 | 79.7% | 84 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| MSP to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 274 | 82.0% | 80 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| MSP to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 258 | 74.3% | 72 min | 8.14% | C− |
| MSP to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 245 | 71.8% | 58 min | 1.63% | C |
| MSP to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 223 | 69.6% | 75 min | 7.17% | C− |
| MSP to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 191 | 80.0% | 128 min | 7.85% | B− |
| MSP to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 186 | 69.6% | 63 min | 0.54% | C+ |
| MSP to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 178 | 73.0% | 63 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MSP to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 170 | 83.3% | 48 min | 8.24% | B− |
| MSP to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 167 | 68.1% | 65 min | 0.60% | C+ |
| MSP to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 158 | 62.2% | 77 min | 1.27% | D |
| MSP to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 156 | 78.7% | 41 min | 0.64% | B+ |
| MSP to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 150 | 80.1% | 62 min | 1.33% | B |
| MSP to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 150 | 84.6% | 62 min | 4.67% | B− |
| MSP to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 143 | 79.6% | 50 min | 0.70% | B+ |
| MSP to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 142 | 76.6% | 73 min | 0.70% | B+ |
| MSP to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 140 | 73.4% | 133 min | 8.57% | C− |
| MSP to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 138 | 81.6% | 46 min | 0.72% | B+ |
| MSP to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 125 | 72.8% | 49 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MSP to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 124 | 78.2% | 63 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| MSP to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 118 | 81.4% | 65 min | 4.24% | B− |
| MSP to AUS · Austinthin sample | 115 | 81.4% | 72 min | 1.74% | B |
| MSP to MKE · Milwaukeethin sample | 113 | 69.0% | 104 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| MSP to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 113 | 81.5% | 61 min | 4.42% | B− |
Delay causes
What held MSP up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 57% of the 158,000 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.
- 57%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 12%Extreme weather
- 11%Late-arriving aircraft
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 12% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the comparison with the other months below is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 10%, so this operation carries roughly 1.3 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 158,168 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.41% against a national 4.71%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.19%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.5% 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 MSP in January
For a January trip through MSP: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 83.5% on time, and with 9.5% 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 December63.1%
- 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.