Airport month record
PHXJAN
Phoenix Sky Harbor International in January 2026
- Departures
- 16,564
- 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 PHX, see live FAA status.
PHX in January lands a B, 2 points better than the national rate of 79.2%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 16,564 flights, of which United Airlines flew 887 at 87.9% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 87.9% on time across 887 flights.
Key figures
On time
81.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 16,136 completed departures
Avg delay
64 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.34%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
77.9%
PHX across all twelve months
These figures cover 16,564 departures from Phoenix Sky Harbor 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 PHX's other months
Against PHX's own year, January ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 77.9%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 2.34% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.7 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 78.4% on time and February 83.4%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 13,772 | 83.0% | 74 min | 1.09% | B |
| October 2025 | 16,620 | 78.8% | 59 min | 0.21% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 16,887 | 78.0% | 63 min | 2.21% | B |
| December 2025 | 17,689 | 78.4% | 59 min | 0.50% | B+ |
| January 2026 (this page) | 16,564 | 81.6% | 64 min | 2.34% | B |
| February 2026 | 15,656 | 83.4% | 58 min | 0.71% | B+ |
| March 2026 | 19,277 | 76.8% | 65 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| April 2026 | 17,679 | 80.8% | 57 min | 0.29% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 17,337 | 77.0% | 58 min | 0.30% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 15,685 | 72.4% | 65 min | 0.43% | C+ |
| July 2026 | 16,096 | 70.0% | 69 min | 0.89% | C+ |
| August 2026 | 14,757 | 75.2% | 65 min | 0.54% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave PHX in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 17 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,411 flights93.5%
- 8am–11am3,754 flights86.2%
- 11am–2pm3,415 flights81.2%
- 2pm–5pm3,254 flights77.9%
- 5pm–8pm2,403 flights77.0%
- 8pm–5am2,327 flights77.2%
Scale runs 70% to 100%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 93.5% of the time, against 77.0% for the evening window. That is 17 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 3,754 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 86.1% on time and Friday the weakest at 78.3%, a spread of 8 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PHX in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 87.9% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 78.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 624 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 5,234 | 83.4% | 41 min | 1.13% | B |
| American Airlines | 4,974 | 78.5% | 73 min | 4.85% | B− |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,352 | 79.6% | 79 min | 1.23% | B |
| Envoy Air | 1,017 | 82.6% | 48 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 887 | 87.9% | 89 min | 1.01% | A |
| Delta Air Lines | 845 | 85.7% | 73 min | 2.01% | A |
| Frontier Airlines | 624 | 78.2% | 75 min | 2.08% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 466 | 86.4% | 67 min | 0.86% | A+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 130 | 79.0% | 66 min | 4.62% | B− |
American Airlines cancels 4.8% 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 PHX in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHX to DEN · Denver | 731 | 83.0% | 60 min | 0.96% | B+ |
| PHX to LAX · Los Angeles | 636 | 84.8% | 78 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| PHX to SEA · Seattle | 586 | 85.3% | 62 min | 1.02% | A |
| PHX to LAS · Las Vegas | 513 | 82.5% | 52 min | 1.56% | B |
| PHX to SLC · Salt Lake City | 490 | 83.2% | 53 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| PHX to SAN · San Diego | 451 | 78.6% | 59 min | 2.66% | B |
| PHX to ORD · Chicago | 447 | 77.9% | 78 min | 1.34% | B |
| PHX to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 403 | 81.8% | 82 min | 8.44% | B− |
| PHX to SNA · Santa Ana | 381 | 83.3% | 48 min | 1.05% | B |
| PHX to SFO · San Francisco | 377 | 78.4% | 93 min | 1.86% | B |
| PHX to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 300 | 85.6% | 51 min | 0.67% | A+ |
| PHX to SMF · Sacramentothin sample | 299 | 83.0% | 48 min | 0.33% | B+ |
| PHX to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample | 294 | 83.7% | 53 min | 1.70% | B |
| PHX to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 286 | 86.6% | 69 min | 3.15% | A− |
| PHX to TUS · Tucsonthin sample | 277 | 81.5% | 64 min | 0.72% | B+ |
| PHX to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 276 | 76.7% | 68 min | 6.88% | B− |
| PHX to AUS · Austinthin sample | 276 | 78.3% | 64 min | 4.35% | B− |
| PHX to ONT · Ontariothin sample | 261 | 84.2% | 47 min | 0.77% | B+ |
| PHX to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 251 | 88.7% | 64 min | 1.59% | A |
| PHX to SJC · San Josethin sample | 247 | 85.2% | 42 min | 1.62% | A |
| PHX to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 245 | 78.8% | 58 min | 1.22% | B |
| PHX to BUR · Burbankthin sample | 240 | 85.8% | 61 min | 0.42% | A+ |
| PHX to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 229 | 81.9% | 49 min | 5.68% | B− |
| PHX to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 222 | 81.1% | 47 min | 2.25% | B |
| PHX to SAT · San Antoniothin sample | 216 | 86.7% | 72 min | 2.31% | A |
Delay causes
What held PHX up in January
Carrier accounts for 43% of the 191,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 43%Carrier
- 38%Late-arriving aircraft
- 14%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
38% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 191,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 to one. The split is drawn from 190,867 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.34% against a national 4.71%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.24%.
5.7% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from PHX in January
For a January trip through PHX: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 81.6% on time with 2.34% 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
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX), the whole year
- PHX in September83.0%
- PHX in October78.8%
- PHX in November78.0%
- PHX in December78.4%
- PHX in February83.4%
- PHX in March76.8%
- PHX in April80.8%
- PHX in May77.0%
- PHX in June72.4%
- PHX in July70.0%
- PHX in August75.2%
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.