George Bush Intercontinental/Houston in January 2026

82.1%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 January 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 9,656 domestic departures from George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (IAH). 82.1% left less than 15 minutes late and 82.9% reached their destination on time; 3.1% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 75.6% of flights departed on time and 75.3% arrived on time, so IAH departures were 6.5 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in January 2025, the airport had 9,250 departures with 73.3% leaving on time: a change of +8.8 points, with flights up 4%.

Flights arriving at IAH that month were on time 83.2% of the time (9,654 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, air carrier 42%, late-arriving aircraft 34% and national aviation system 19%.

On time 82.9%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 13.9%
Cancelled 3.1%
Diverted 0.1%

Every scheduled departure from IAH in January 2026, judged by arrival at the destination.

January 2026 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Jan 2026	Jan 2025	IAH, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Jan 2026
Departed on time	82.1%	73.3%	78.1%	75.6%
Arrived on time	82.9%	76.5%	77.6%	75.3%
Cancelled	3.1%	5.6%	1.1%	4.7%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	12.2 min	17.9 min	17.2 min	16.7 min
Scheduled departures a day	322	308	326	18,133
Scheduled departures	9,656	9,250	119,020	544,003

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	6,172	64%	86.5%	-3.8 min	1.8%
OO SkyWest Airlines	1,093	11%	77.7%	8.2 min	5.1%
DL Delta Air Lines	640	7%	80.9%	1.1 min	4.2%
AA American Airlines	589	6%	77.4%	14.4 min	9.0%
NK Spirit Airlines	449	5%	72.4%	4.7 min	5.1%
F9 Frontier Airlines	350	4%	72.3%	8.2 min	2.6%
YX Republic Airline	127	1%	75.6%	9.2 min	7.9%
MQ Envoy Air	124	1%	74.2%	7.7 min	2.4%
AS Alaska Airlines	89	1%	71.9%	4.1 min	2.2%
B6 JetBlue Airways	19	0%	73.7%	14.6 min	5.3%
OH PSA Airlines	4	0%	50.0%	422.7 min	25.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
IAH–DFW	Houston to Dallas/Fort Worth	475	76.2%	12.4 min	8.2%
IAH–ORD	Houston to Chicago	467	77.5%	5.3 min	1.3%
IAH–LAX	Houston to Los Angeles	437	84.9%	-3.0 min	1.4%
IAH–ATL	Houston to Atlanta	395	77.7%	4.8 min	4.3%
IAH–DEN	Houston to Denver	385	87.0%	-0.6 min	0.3%
IAH–MCO	Houston to Orlando	350	88.9%	-9.5 min	1.1%
IAH–MIA	Houston to Miami	341	81.5%	5.7 min	1.8%
IAH–EWR	Houston to Newark	321	81.6%	-3.9 min	4.0%
IAH–SFO	Houston to San Francisco	303	83.5%	-2.3 min	1.3%
IAH–LGA	Houston to New York	287	83.3%	-5.9 min	5.2%
IAH–DCA	Houston to Washington	282	78.4%	5.6 min	6.7%
IAH–LAS	Houston to Las Vegas	282	87.2%	-6.9 min	0.7%

By scheduled departure hour

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

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), January 2026.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Jan 2026	Minutes
Air carrier	42.3%	37.3%	41,910
Late-arriving aircraft	34.2%	35.0%	33,879
National Aviation System	19.2%	18.0%	19,009
Extreme weather	4.3%	9.6%	4,246
Security	0.0%	0.1%	9

99,053 delay minutes on 1,341 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 January 2026?

82.1% of 9,656 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 82.9% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 75.6% and 75.3%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In January 2025, 73.3% of 9,250 departures left on time and 5.6% were cancelled, against 82.1% and 3.1% in January 2026.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for January 2026; 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.