Chicago O'Hare International in December 2025

63.1%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 December 2025, reporting carriers scheduled 27,790 domestic departures from Chicago O'Hare International (ORD). 63.1% left less than 15 minutes late and 59.3% reached their destination on time; 2.5% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 72.0% of flights departed on time and 71.9% arrived on time, so ORD departures were 8.9 points below the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in December 2024, the airport had 22,668 departures with 77.7% leaving on time: a change of −14.6 points, with flights up 23%.

Flights arriving at ORD that month were on time 64.1% of the time (27,772 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 40%, air carrier 24% and national aviation system 22%.

On time 59.3%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 37.9%
Cancelled 2.5%
Diverted 0.3%

Every scheduled departure from ORD 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	ORD, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Dec 2025
Departed on time	63.1%	77.7%	71.4%	72.0%
Arrived on time	59.3%	76.4%	69.4%	71.9%
Cancelled	2.5%	0.6%	2.8%	1.5%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	33.2 min	16.9 min	22.3 min	21.2 min
Scheduled departures a day	926	756	986	19,410
Scheduled departures	27,790	22,668	359,911	582,304

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	7,305	26%	67.3%	17.6 min	0.2%
OO SkyWest Airlines	5,818	21%	48.1%	56.4 min	4.5%
MQ Envoy Air	4,402	16%	59.5%	20.9 min	3.5%
AA American Airlines	4,153	15%	63.3%	21.9 min	1.1%
YX Republic Airline	3,612	13%	60.9%	25.4 min	2.8%
DL Delta Air Lines	758	3%	51.5%	32.0 min	5.0%
NK Spirit Airlines	428	2%	51.2%	38.2 min	5.4%
OH PSA Airlines	358	1%	40.5%	86.9 min	7.8%
F9 Frontier Airlines	331	1%	55.3%	43.7 min	7.3%
WN Southwest Airlines	281	1%	68.0%	19.4 min	0.0%
AS Alaska Airlines	272	1%	50.4%	27.7 min	4.0%
B6 JetBlue Airways	72	0%	65.3%	19.1 min	1.4%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
ORD–LGA	Chicago to New York	906	54.6%	32.2 min	4.5%
ORD–LAX	Chicago to Los Angeles	568	66.5%	20.3 min	1.6%
ORD–BOS	Chicago to Boston	557	65.2%	18.9 min	0.9%
ORD–DCA	Chicago to Washington	555	66.1%	19.3 min	2.2%
ORD–MCO	Chicago to Orlando	552	67.6%	14.3 min	0.5%
ORD–DFW	Chicago to Dallas/Fort Worth	551	68.1%	14.3 min	1.3%
ORD–EWR	Chicago to Newark	512	60.9%	21.6 min	1.8%
ORD–IAH	Chicago to Houston	512	73.0%	8.7 min	0.6%
ORD–MSP	Chicago to Minneapolis	500	48.8%	46.1 min	2.4%
ORD–ATL	Chicago to Atlanta	491	62.7%	22.3 min	3.5%
ORD–PHX	Chicago to Phoenix	489	72.0%	11.6 min	0.4%
ORD–DTW	Chicago to Detroit	419	52.3%	48.8 min	2.9%

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), December 2025.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Dec 2025	Minutes
Air carrier	24.4%	33.3%	233,355
Late-arriving aircraft	40.2%	41.1%	383,628
National Aviation System	21.5%	19.1%	205,534
Extreme weather	13.8%	6.4%	132,033
Security	0.0%	0.2%	397

954,947 delay minutes on 10,531 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 ORD on time in December 2025?

63.1% of 27,790 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 59.3% 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, 77.7% of 22,668 departures left on time and 0.6% were cancelled, against 63.1% and 2.5% 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 ORD · methodology · corrections.