Airport month record
RSWJAN
Southwest Florida International in January 2026
- Departures
- 3,454
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 7
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at RSW, see live FAA status.
RSW in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.1% of scheduled flights never operate, against 4.7% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about 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 3,454 flights, of which United Airlines flew 600 at 86.1% on time.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 86.1% on time across 600 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,306 completed departures
Avg delay
80 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
4.11%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
78.1%
RSW across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,454 departures from Southwest Florida 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 RSW's other months
Against RSW's own year, January ran level with the twelve-month rate of 78.1%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 4.11% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.2 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 74.2% on time and February 73.8%, 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 | 2,315 | 73.1% | 81 min | 2.46% | C |
| August 2025 | 2,060 | 80.8% | 78 min | 1.12% | B |
| September 2025 | 1,847 | 88.2% | 90 min | 0.16% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 2,369 | 81.2% | 74 min | 0.59% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 2,991 | 81.7% | 95 min | 1.37% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,480 | 74.2% | 86 min | 1.93% | C |
| January 2026 (this page) | 3,454 | 78.6% | 80 min | 4.11% | B− |
| February 2026 | 3,551 | 73.8% | 70 min | 2.87% | C |
| March 2026 | 4,504 | 71.2% | 86 min | 3.22% | C− |
| April 2026 | 3,632 | 81.0% | 80 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 2,802 | 82.5% | 81 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 2,087 | 79.6% | 77 min | 0.91% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave RSW in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 22 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am567 flights91.9%
- 8am–11am499 flights88.4%
- 11am–2pm874 flights77.1%
- 2pm–5pm685 flights71.0%
- 5pm–8pm623 flights71.6%
- 8pm–5am206 flights70.3%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.9% of the time, against 70.3% for the overnight window. That is 22 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 874 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 86.3% on time and Monday the weakest at 67.2%. 19 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at RSW in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 86.1% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 68.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 368 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 794 | 82.8% | 58 min | 2.39% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 749 | 79.4% | 74 min | 3.07% | B− |
| American Airlines | 638 | 77.0% | 119 min | 8.78% | B− |
| United Airlines | 600 | 86.1% | 63 min | 1.33% | A |
| JetBlue Airways | 368 | 68.8% | 87 min | 5.71% | C− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 141 | 71.6% | 64 min | 4.96% | C− |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 128 | 55.4% | 74 min | 5.47% | D− |
American Airlines cancels 8.8% 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 RSW in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSW to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 317 | 73.6% | 68 min | 2.21% | C |
| RSW to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 260 | 82.2% | 66 min | 2.31% | B |
| RSW to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 217 | 70.3% | 70 min | 3.69% | C− |
| RSW to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 186 | 83.9% | 124 min | 9.14% | B− |
| RSW to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 181 | 84.0% | 55 min | 3.31% | B− |
| RSW to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 179 | 69.0% | 80 min | 6.15% | C− |
| RSW to DEN · Denverthin sample | 131 | 85.5% | 72 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| RSW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 128 | 79.6% | 101 min | 11.72% | B− |
| RSW to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 128 | 76.0% | 66 min | 5.47% | B− |
| RSW to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 126 | 85.7% | 47 min | 5.56% | A− |
| RSW to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 125 | 80.8% | 77 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RSW to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 121 | 68.2% | 131 min | 9.09% | C− |
| RSW to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 101 | 83.0% | 41 min | 0.99% | B+ |
| RSW to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 93 | 75.0% | 153 min | 9.68% | B− |
| RSW to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 93 | 96.7% | 141 min | 1.08% | A |
| RSW to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 92 | 84.8% | 53 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RSW to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 91 | 91.1% | 57 min | 1.10% | A |
| RSW to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 89 | 80.0% | 90 min | 10.11% | B− |
| RSW to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 75 | 64.4% | 85 min | 2.67% | D |
| RSW to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 65 | 80.3% | 87 min | 6.15% | B− |
| RSW to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 64 | 87.1% | 60 min | 3.12% | A− |
| RSW to CVG · Cincinnatithin sample | 64 | 82.0% | 104 min | 4.69% | B− |
| RSW to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 60 | 84.7% | 53 min | 1.67% | B |
| RSW to MKE · Milwaukeethin sample | 44 | 75.0% | 91 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| RSW to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 40 | 82.1% | 103 min | 2.50% | B |
Delay causes
What held RSW up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 51% of the 57,000 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.
- 51%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 14%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
51% 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 57,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 14 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 56,655 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.11%, 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.
8.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.6%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from RSW in January
For a January trip through RSW: expect 78.6% on time and 4.11% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Southwest Florida International (RSW), the whole year
- RSW in July73.1%
- RSW in August80.8%
- RSW in September88.2%
- RSW in October81.2%
- RSW in November81.7%
- RSW in December74.2%
- RSW in February73.8%
- RSW in March71.2%
- RSW in April81.0%
- RSW in May82.5%
- RSW in June79.6%
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.