Airport month record

TPADEC

Tampa International in December 2025

Departures: 6,851
Month: December 2025
National, same month: 73.2%
Carriers: 9

Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at TPA, see live FAA status.

TPA in December sits in the middle of the pack with a B. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 2 points better than the national rate of 73.2%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 6,851 flights, of which United Airlines flew 828 at 80.0% on time.

United Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 80.0% on time across 828 flights.

On time

75.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 6,743 completed departures

Avg delay

74 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

1.36%

Nationally in December: 1.55%

Whole year

78.1%

TPA across all twelve months

These figures cover 6,851 departures from Tampa 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 TPA's other months

Against TPA's own year, December ran 3 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 78.1%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, November ran 81.3% on time and January 81.0%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.

TPA month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	6,770	69.2%	80 min	1.79%	C
August 2025	6,171	74.6%	72 min	0.70%	C+
September 2025	5,502	87.1%	73 min	0.22%	A+
October 2025	6,075	79.2%	68 min	0.51%	B+
November 2025	6,421	81.3%	79 min	2.41%	B
December 2025 (this page)	6,851	75.4%	74 min	1.36%	B
January 2026	6,432	81.0%	66 min	3.81%	B−
February 2026	6,173	77.1%	61 min	2.25%	B
March 2026	7,679	76.4%	78 min	2.89%	B
April 2026	6,952	82.3%	65 min	0.49%	B+
May 2026	6,471	77.0%	76 min	0.68%	B+
June 2026	5,964	77.7%	73 min	0.86%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave TPA in December

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 34 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,367 flights90.3%
8am–11am1,407 flights83.5%
11am–2pm1,193 flights75.8%
2pm–5pm1,053 flights68.9%
5pm–8pm1,272 flights63.2%
8pm–5am559 flights56.7%

Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 56.7% on time, against 90.3% 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 1,407 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 81.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 66.9%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at TPA in December

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 80.0% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 67.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 435 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at TPA in December 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,103	77.1%	60 min	0.67%	B+
American Airlines	1,269	77.7%	94 min	0.63%	B+
Delta Air Lines	1,227	72.8%	82 min	3.10%	C−
United Airlines	828	80.0%	71 min	0.36%	B+
Frontier Airlines	500	74.0%	98 min	2.80%	C
JetBlue Airways	435	67.9%	69 min	1.84%	C
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	282	67.4%	68 min	2.13%	C
Envoy Airthin sample	116	71.3%	38 min	0.86%	C+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	88	64.4%	40 min	1.14%	D

Delta Air Lines cancels 3.1% 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 TPA in December

Routes from TPA in December 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
TPA to ATL · Atlanta	501	78.0%	75 min	2.20%	B
TPA to ORD · Chicagothin sample	335	70.7%	92 min	2.09%	C
TPA to MIA · Miamithin sample	297	83.1%	78 min	0.34%	B+
TPA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	281	60.3%	106 min	4.27%	D−
TPA to DEN · Denverthin sample	278	82.9%	75 min	0.36%	B+
TPA to CLT · Charlottethin sample	272	80.1%	85 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	251	82.7%	83 min	0.40%	B+
TPA to BOS · Bostonthin sample	247	67.1%	84 min	2.83%	C
TPA to EWR · Newarkthin sample	232	71.6%	65 min	1.29%	C
TPA to DTW · Detroitthin sample	231	70.6%	83 min	1.30%	C
TPA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample	211	65.9%	92 min	1.42%	C
TPA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	211	82.3%	46 min	0.95%	B+
TPA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	202	70.5%	44 min	0.99%	C+
TPA to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	201	70.9%	80 min	1.00%	C
TPA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	195	70.6%	62 min	3.08%	C−
TPA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample	150	69.7%	70 min	2.67%	C
TPA to IAH · Houstonthin sample	150	83.8%	62 min	1.33%	B
TPA to SJU · San Juanthin sample	142	74.8%	76 min	2.11%	C
TPA to AUS · Austinthin sample	137	78.8%	46 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to MDW · Chicagothin sample	135	68.7%	67 min	0.00%	C+
TPA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	125	82.4%	52 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to RDU · Raleighthin sample	116	76.3%	76 min	1.72%	B
TPA to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	114	80.7%	52 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	114	79.6%	88 min	0.00%	B+
TPA to DAL · Dallasthin sample	110	75.5%	61 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held TPA up in December

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 56% of the 123,000 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.

Late-arriving aircraft
56%
Carrier
27%
National Airspace System
16%
Extreme weather
2%
Security
0%

56% 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 123,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 35 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 123,401 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.36% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.22%.

For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.0% 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 TPA in December

For a December trip through TPA: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 90.3% 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.

Tampa International (TPA), the whole year
TPA in July69.2%
TPA in August74.6%
TPA in September87.1%
TPA in October79.2%
TPA in November81.3%
TPA in January81.0%
TPA in February77.1%
TPA in March76.4%
TPA in April82.3%
TPA in May77.0%
TPA in June77.7%

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.

Key figures