Airport month record
TPAJAN
Tampa International in January 2026
- Departures
- 6,432
- 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 TPA, see live FAA status.
TPA in January carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 3.8% 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 6,432 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,903 at 84.6% on time.
Southwest Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 84.6% on time across 1,903 flights.
Key figures
On time
81.0%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 6,174 completed departures
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.81%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
78.1%
TPA across all twelve months
These figures cover 6,432 departures from Tampa 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 TPA's other months
Against TPA's own year, January ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 78.1%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Cancellations are where January stands out: 3.81% of scheduled departures were called off, 2.5 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 75.4% on time and February 77.1%, 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 | 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 | 6,851 | 75.4% | 74 min | 1.36% | B |
| January 2026 (this page) | 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 January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 21 points, against 8 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,072 flights88.8%
- 8am–11am1,396 flights84.7%
- 11am–2pm1,246 flights82.6%
- 2pm–5pm1,181 flights77.1%
- 5pm–8pm1,165 flights75.9%
- 8pm–5am372 flights67.7%
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 88.8% of the time, against 67.7% for the overnight window. That is 21 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 1,396 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 87.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 68.1%. 20 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at TPA in January
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 84.6% of the time; JetBlue Airways manages 76.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 433 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,903 | 84.6% | 40 min | 2.26% | B |
| American Airlines | 1,194 | 76.5% | 96 min | 8.04% | B− |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,172 | 82.8% | 75 min | 2.73% | B |
| United Airlines | 786 | 84.4% | 56 min | 1.78% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 501 | 79.5% | 67 min | 3.39% | B− |
| JetBlue Airways | 433 | 76.5% | 72 min | 5.77% | B− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 245 | 71.9% | 64 min | 5.71% | C− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 128 | 74.4% | 50 min | 2.34% | C |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 69 | 67.2% | 50 min | 1.45% | C |
American Airlines cancels 8.0% 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 January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TPA to ATL · Atlanta | 507 | 83.6% | 80 min | 2.56% | B |
| TPA to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 300 | 67.7% | 70 min | 3.33% | C− |
| TPA to MIA · Miamithin sample | 282 | 76.0% | 105 min | 2.48% | B |
| TPA to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 276 | 80.8% | 78 min | 5.07% | B− |
| TPA to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 263 | 82.2% | 71 min | 10.27% | B− |
| TPA to DEN · Denverthin sample | 247 | 85.0% | 38 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| TPA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 245 | 76.1% | 83 min | 11.02% | B− |
| TPA to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 226 | 77.4% | 65 min | 1.77% | B |
| TPA to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 206 | 87.4% | 38 min | 3.88% | A− |
| TPA to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 205 | 81.0% | 70 min | 9.76% | B− |
| TPA to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 204 | 76.2% | 71 min | 7.35% | B− |
| TPA to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 199 | 71.9% | 112 min | 7.04% | C− |
| TPA to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 199 | 81.5% | 51 min | 4.52% | B− |
| TPA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 198 | 86.8% | 50 min | 4.55% | A− |
| TPA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 197 | 80.2% | 58 min | 5.08% | B− |
| TPA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 156 | 74.5% | 49 min | 1.92% | C |
| TPA to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 145 | 89.0% | 54 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| TPA to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 132 | 84.7% | 45 min | 6.06% | B− |
| TPA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 128 | 85.7% | 44 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| TPA to AUS · Austinthin sample | 125 | 81.3% | 77 min | 1.60% | B |
| TPA to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 109 | 88.5% | 58 min | 4.59% | A− |
| TPA to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 105 | 81.9% | 50 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| TPA to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 102 | 81.2% | 66 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| TPA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 102 | 89.2% | 43 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| TPA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 100 | 79.8% | 70 min | 6.00% | B− |
Delay causes
What held TPA up in January
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 45% of the 78,000 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.
- 45%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 20%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
45% 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 78,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 11 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 77,764 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 3.81%, 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.
5.9% 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 about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from TPA in January
For a January trip through TPA: expect 81.0% on time and 3.81% cancelled, going by January 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- 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 December75.4%
- 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.