George Bush Intercontinental/Houston in December 2025

78.3%departed on time

BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report.

In December 2025, reporting carriers scheduled 9,971 domestic departures from George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (IAH). 78.3% left less than 15 minutes late and 78.7% reached their destination on time; 0.6% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 72.0% of flights departed on time and 71.9% arrived on time, so IAH departures were 6.3 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in December 2024, the airport had 9,572 departures with 74.8% leaving on time: a change of +3.5 points, with flights up 4%.

Flights arriving at IAH that month were on time 78.9% of the time (9,971 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, air carrier 40%, late-arriving aircraft 37% and national aviation system 22%.

On time 78.7%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 20.5%
Cancelled 0.6%
Diverted 0.2%

Every scheduled departure from IAH in December 2025, judged by arrival at the destination.

December 2025 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	IAH, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Dec 2025
Departed on time	78.3%	74.8%	78.1%	72.0%
Arrived on time	78.7%	75.7%	77.6%	71.9%
Cancelled	0.6%	1.2%	1.1%	1.5%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	16.8 min	20.1 min	17.2 min	21.2 min
Scheduled departures a day	332	319	326	19,410
Scheduled departures	9,971	9,572	119,020	582,304

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	6,317	63%	82.1%	1.4 min	0.1%
OO SkyWest Airlines	1,079	11%	73.7%	21.3 min	0.4%
DL Delta Air Lines	700	7%	70.0%	16.6 min	4.6%
AA American Airlines	612	6%	79.4%	14.1 min	0.5%
NK Spirit Airlines	524	5%	70.2%	14.3 min	1.5%
F9 Frontier Airlines	362	4%	66.9%	21.3 min	0.6%
YX Republic Airline	126	1%	69.8%	17.3 min	3.2%
MQ Envoy Air	108	1%	86.1%	-6.3 min	0.0%
AS Alaska Airlines	92	1%	69.6%	10.2 min	0.0%
B6 JetBlue Airways	42	0%	78.6%	26.6 min	0.0%
OH PSA Airlines	9	0%	66.7%	-2.1 min	11.1%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
IAH–ORD	Houston to Chicago	512	74.2%	12.6 min	0.6%
IAH–DFW	Houston to Dallas/Fort Worth	499	74.9%	9.5 min	0.2%
IAH–LAX	Houston to Los Angeles	448	83.3%	-0.5 min	0.7%
IAH–DEN	Houston to Denver	390	84.4%	0.9 min	0.0%
IAH–ATL	Houston to Atlanta	367	75.7%	8.4 min	3.0%
IAH–LGA	Houston to New York	348	62.4%	22.7 min	4.3%
IAH–MIA	Houston to Miami	339	82.0%	2.6 min	0.3%
IAH–EWR	Houston to Newark	334	72.5%	8.1 min	0.3%
IAH–MCO	Houston to Orlando	319	83.1%	4.7 min	0.6%
IAH–SFO	Houston to San Francisco	311	79.4%	1.9 min	0.3%
IAH–LAS	Houston to Las Vegas	307	90.2%	-5.4 min	0.0%
IAH–FLL	Houston to Fort Lauderdale	283	79.2%	8.6 min	0.0%

By scheduled departure hour

100

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), December 2025.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Dec 2025	Minutes
Air carrier	40.0%	33.3%	58,081
Late-arriving aircraft	36.9%	41.1%	53,560
National Aviation System	21.7%	19.1%	31,473
Extreme weather	1.3%	6.4%	1,910
Security	0.0%	0.2%	39

145,063 delay minutes on 2,040 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Questions and answers

How many flights left IAH on time in December 2025?

78.3% of 9,971 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 78.7% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 72.0% and 71.9%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In December 2024, 74.8% of 9,572 departures left on time and 1.2% were cancelled, against 78.3% and 0.6% in December 2025.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for December 2025; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for IAH · methodology · corrections.