Holiday travel
Christmas and New Year flight delays
20 December to 3 January, the full winter holiday period.
Based on 2025 and earlier data. 2026 results expected around March 2027. Historical statistics, not a forecast and not live status.
Dates first: Sunday 20 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027 is the next Christmas and New Year. No figures for it exist yet, and they will not until about March 2027, because US on-time data lags by roughly two months. Everything below is based on 2025 data and the Christmas and New Years before it back to 2022.
This is a holiday with a real effect on flying. In 3 of the last 3 years it cleared the measurable-effect test, and on average the on-time rate ran below normal. 1 of 4 years were better than normal rather than worse.
Of the 4 Christmas and New Years on record here (2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025), 4 moved a headline figure past the test and 0 did not.
Key figures for 2025
On time, 2025
72.4%
Normal weeks: 78.9%
Avg delay
73 min
Normal weeks: 75 min
Cancelled
1.95%
Normal weeks: 1.00%
Flights
282,442
Saturday 20 December to Saturday 3 January 2026
Against the two weeks either side, the on-time rate moved −13.5 points in 2022, +1.0 points in 2023, −6.4 points in 2024 and −6.5 points in 2025, an average of −6.3. Average delay moved +15 minutes in 2022, −9 minutes in 2023, +6 minutes in 2024 and −2 minutes in 2025, and cancellations +10.02 points in 2022, −1.36 points in 2023, −1.27 points in 2024 and +0.95 points in 2025.
2025's window scheduled 282,442 flights, 18,829 a day, which is +4% on the 18,170 a day of the weeks around it; over the years in the data the holiday's total grew 7%.
The share of arrivals an hour or more late, the figure that decides a connection, was 15.7% in 2022 (normally 7.9%), 5.1% in 2023 (normally 6.5%), 9.6% in 2024 (normally 6.4%) and 10.2% in 2025 (normally 7.7%).
Year on year
Every Christmas and New Year in the data
| Year | Flights | On time | Normal weeks | Change | Cancelled | Normal weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 263,726 | 63.5% | 77.0% | −13.5 | 11.25% | 1.23% |
| 2023 | 276,534 | 81.8% | 80.8% | +1.0 | 0.48% | 1.84% |
| 2024 | 285,023 | 74.6% | 81.0% | −6.4 | 0.99% | 2.26% |
| 2025 | 282,442 | 72.4% | 78.9% | −6.5 | 1.95% | 1.00% |
“Normal weeks” are the two weeks either side of the holiday, leaving out other holiday periods. Change is in percentage points.
Patterns
What repeats from year to year
2022 was the hardest Christmas and New Year to fly, 63.5% on time, and 2023 the easiest at 81.8%: a spread of 18.3 points between the best and worst years.
Schedules peaked on Thursday 22 December 2022 (19,182 flights), Friday 22 December 2023 (19,840 flights), Friday 20 December 2024 (20,561 flights) and Monday 22 December 2025 (20,087 flights).
Low points by year: Friday 23 December 2022 (37.9%), Tuesday 26 December 2023 (72.4%), Sunday 29 December 2024 (58.9%) and Sunday 28 December 2025 (59.7%). The worst day moved around from year to year, which points to weather rather than to a fixed crunch in the holiday schedule.
Day 7 of the window has been the day to avoid, 65.8% on time on average across 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025; day 6 of the window has been the day to pick at 80.7%. Christmas and New Year moves across the week from year to year, so the day's position in the window is used instead of its name.
Early or late matters: 5am–8am departures averaged 84.0% on time across 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, 8pm–5am departures 65.2%. That 18.8 points gap is bigger than the holiday effect itself.
Cancellations ranged from 0.48% in 2023 to 11.25% in 2022, when Buffalo (BUF) was the worst-hit large airport at 40.40%.
Airports and airlines
Who handles Christmas and New Year best
By airport across 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, Aspen (ASE, −18.0 points), San Diego (SAN, −14.5 points) and Dallas (DAL, −13.7 points) fell furthest behind their own normal weeks on average, while Anchorage (ANC, +2.7), Lihue (LIH, +0.4) and Washington (DCA, +0.0) held up best. Only airports with 500 departures in every window count.
Worst year-on-normal airport, year by year: Denver (DEN, −26.6 points) in 2022, St. Louis (STL, −6.9 points) in 2023, Aspen (ASE, −32.0 points) in 2024 and Oakland (OAK, −19.5 points) in 2025.
Over the holiday across 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, JetBlue Airways was the least reliable large carrier at 58.4% on time on average, against 82.7% for Republic Airways.
Against their own normal weeks, JetBlue Airways was hit hardest by the holiday on average, −13.5 points, while PSA Airlines fared best at +1.6.
Top of the carrier table each year: PSA Airlines in 2022 (80.6%), Republic Airways in 2023 (94.2%), Republic Airways in 2024 (82.5%) and Envoy Air in 2025 (79.7%).
OGG to HNL and HNL to OGG were among the five busiest routes in every year, so their figures on the year pages are worth comparing across years.
What to do with this
Planning Christmas and New Year 2026
For Christmas and New Year 2026: fly day 6 of the window if the dates allow; take a 5am–8am departure; and allow more connection time at Aspen (ASE) and San Diego (SAN). Each year page has the day-by-day and airport-by-airport detail.
On time means arriving less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time. Average delay counts delayed flights only; cancellations are a share of every scheduled flight. A holiday is compared with the two weeks either side of it, leaving out days that belong to other holidays. The measurable-effect test asks for 3 points of on-time rate, 5 minutes of average delay or 2 points of cancellations; airports, routes and carriers need 500 flights in the window to be ranked. The US DOT publishes on-time data about two months after the month it covers.
Related
Where to go next
- Christmas and New Year 202263.5%
- Christmas and New Year 202381.8%
- Christmas and New Year 202474.6%
- Christmas and New Year 202572.4%
- Every US travel holiday
- The holidays that fly better than a normal week
- The busiest US travel days, and what they cost in punctuality
- How the figures are computed
Holiday windows are fixed by rule each year. See every window.
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.