Holiday rankings
Airlines over US holidays, ranked
Every carrier that flew at least 500 flights in at least 30 of the 39 holiday windows in the data, ranked by its average on-time rate across those holidays.
Historical statistics from US DOT on-time data, not forecasts and not live status.
Republic Airways has the best holiday record on average, 82.2% on time across 39 holiday-years, followed by Delta Air Lines (82.1%) and Hawaiian Airlines (80.7%). Frontier Airlines has the weakest at 69.4%.
Counting outright wins, Republic Airways was the most punctual carrier in 12 of 39 holiday-years, and Hawaiian Airlines in 10. Frontier Airlines finished last most often, 11 times.
Relative to its own normal weeks, JetBlue Airways suffers most over holidays, averaging −3.7 points, while Alaska Airlines holds up best at +0.4. That column separates an airline that is simply punctual from one that copes well with holiday peaks.
The most consistent carrier from holiday to holiday is SkyWest Airlines, whose on-time rate varied by a standard deviation of 6.4 points; the least consistent is Hawaiian Airlines at 10.5.
Regional carriers, which fly under contract for the larger airlines, averaged 79.9% on time over holidays against 76.1% for mainline carriers.
The full list
Ranked
| Airline | Avg on time | Vs normal weeks | Times best | Times last | Holidays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Republic Airways | 82.2% | −1.2 | 12 | 1 | 39 |
| 2. Delta Air Lines | 82.1% | −0.8 | 2 | 0 | 39 |
| 3. Hawaiian Airlines | 80.7% | +0.2 | 10 | 3 | 34 |
| 4. SkyWest Airlines | 79.8% | −1.4 | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 5. Envoy Air | 79.5% | −1.4 | 6 | 2 | 39 |
| 6. Alaska Airlines | 79.5% | +0.4 | 4 | 0 | 39 |
| 7. United Airlines | 79.0% | −1.5 | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 8. Southwest Airlines | 78.2% | −2.1 | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 9. PSA Airlines | 78.0% | −0.2 | 2 | 5 | 39 |
| 10. American Airlines | 75.4% | −1.2 | 0 | 2 | 39 |
| 11. Allegiant Air | 74.7% | −2.5 | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| 12. Spirit Airlines | 72.0% | −3.4 | 0 | 5 | 38 |
| 13. JetBlue Airways | 69.8% | −3.7 | 0 | 10 | 39 |
| 14. Frontier Airlines | 69.4% | −3.2 | 0 | 11 | 39 |
Reading the list
What the ranking shows
Over Christmas and New Year specifically, Republic Airways averaged the best record at 82.7% and JetBlue Airways the worst at 58.4%.
Holiday by holiday, the carrier with the best average on-time rate was Hawaiian Airlines over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend (83.0%), Envoy Air over Presidents Day weekend (81.7%), Republic Airways over Spring break (82.7%), Delta Air Lines over Easter weekend (86.3%), Republic Airways over Memorial Day weekend (82.9%), Hawaiian Airlines over Fourth of July week (88.5%), Republic Airways over Labor Day weekend (90.1%), Envoy Air over Columbus Day weekend (87.1%), Envoy Air over Veterans Day (88.8%), Republic Airways over Thanksgiving week (86.6%) and Republic Airways over Christmas and New Year (82.7%).
Beyond the extremes, the carriers that lose most ground over holidays are JetBlue Airways (−3.7 points), Spirit Airlines (−3.4 points) and Frontier Airlines (−3.2 points), and the ones that gain or hold steady are Alaska Airlines (+0.4), Hawaiian Airlines (+0.2) and PSA Airlines (−0.2).
By volume, Southwest Airlines (1,049,278 holiday flights), Delta Air Lines (711,128 holiday flights), American Airlines (697,135 holiday flights) carried the most traffic across all the windows combined.
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
Other holiday rankings
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.