81% of flights leaving Honolulu (HNL) arrived on time over the past 12 months, 5 points better than the national average of 76%. That ranks 11 of 76 large U.S. airports. About 159 flights leave HNL on a typical day; 1.1% were cancelled. 83% pushed back from the gate on time, so most of the lateness is already there when the flight leaves the gate.
At a glance
- Best hour to fly: 6 a.m. (94% on time). Worst: noon (72%).
- Best month: September (90%). Worst: January (80%).
- Most reliable airline here: Southwest Airlines (90%), vs Alaska Airlines at 76%.
- Biggest delay cause: the airlines themselves (53% of delay minutes).
- Year on year: getting worse (87% → 81%).
How late?
The on-time rate treats a flight 20 minutes late the same as one 5 hours late. Here's the split for flights leaving HNL: when a flight was late, it was under 45 minutes late 70% of the time. About 1 in 27 flights landed an hour or more late, and 1 in 141 three hours or more; 1.1% were cancelled outright.
- On time or early81%
- 15–30 min late9.1%
- 30–60 min late4.7%
- 1–2 hours late2.3%
- 2–3 hours late0.7%
- 3+ hours late0.7%
- Diverted0.1%
- Cancelled1.1%
Share of all 58,034 scheduled flights, past 12 months, by arrival time against schedule.
Best time of day to fly out of HNL
Time of day matters more at HNL than almost anything else you control. Flights scheduled to leave at 6 a.m. arrived on time 94% of the time; at noon it was 72%, a 22-point gap. Taken together, early departures (5–9 a.m.) ran 90% on time against 83% for the evening bank (5–10 p.m.). Early planes usually start the day at the airport, so they haven't had a chance to pick up delays elsewhere. By evening a late inbound aircraft, a crew running out of duty hours or an afternoon thunderstorm can push one late flight into the next. Cancellations cluster too: 9 a.m. departures were cancelled 1.6% of the time, against 1.1% overall.
Hour × month
Combine the two and the spread is wider still. The most reliable combination at HNL was a 6 a.m. departure in September (97% on time); the least, 4 p.m. in January (70%). If you can only move one thing, move the hour. Departure hour usually shifts the odds more than the month does.
Each cell: on-time rate for that departure hour in that calendar month, 2023–2026. Find your travel month, then look along the row for the greenest hour.
Best and worst months
January is the hardest month at HNL, with 80% of flights on time across 2023–2026; September is the best at 90%. Summer (June–August) runs 3 points worse than autumn: heavy schedules, peak loads and afternoon thunderstorms. Winter costs 5 points against autumn. Cancellations peak in January (2.0% of flights).
Airlines at HNL
Alaska Airlines runs 40% of departures from HNL. Among airlines with at least 1,000 departures here, Southwest Airlines was the most reliable (90% on time) and Alaska Airlines the least (76%), a 14-point difference. On a route where both fly, that difference is worth more than a small fare gap.
| Airline | Departures | On time | Left on time | Cancelled | Typical arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 23,409 | 76% | 78% | 1.6% | +2 min |
| Southwest Airlines | 12,359 | 90% | 91% | 0.5% | −7 min |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 10,807 | 81% | 83% | 0.9% | +1 min |
| United Airlines | 5,102 | 84% | 84% | 0.9% | −8 min |
| Delta Air Lines | 3,711 | 85% | 87% | 1.4% | −10 min |
| American Airlines | 2,646 | 81% | 83% | 0.8% | −9 min |
Why flights are late at HNL
Airlines report a cause for every flight that arrives 15 or more minutes late. At HNL, 53% of delay minutes came from the airlines themselves: crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling and baggage. Next is late-arriving aircraft at 33%. Of the 649 cancellations, 28% were blamed on weather, so most were within the airlines’ control or the air traffic system’s.
The average taxi from gate to takeoff is 17 minutes, about typical for a large U.S. airport.
Month by month
Over the latest 12 months 81% of HNL departures were on time, against 87% in the 12 months before, a decline of 5 points. The best recent month was September 2025 (91%); the worst, March 2026 (72%).
Worst cancellation days
The worst single day in the past year was Saturday, Aug 15, 2026, when 31% of 157 scheduled departures were cancelled. Days like that are usually a major storm, a system outage or a holiday peak hitting bad weather. No average predicts them, so on a stormy forecast, check your airline's travel waivers.
| Date | Departures | Cancelled | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 2026 | 157 | 31% | 56% |
| Aug 16, 2026 | 152 | 22% | 13% |
| Mar 13, 2026 | 165 | 13% | 31% |
| Mar 14, 2026 | 162 | 8% | 15% |
| Jan 24, 2026 | 163 | 7% | 85% |
| Mar 20, 2026 | 169 | 7% | 38% |
| Nov 13, 2025 | 156 | 6% | 79% |
| Mar 10, 2026 | 160 | 6% | 83% |
| Nov 12, 2025 | 146 | 6% | 82% |
| May 15, 2026 | 163 | 6% | 53% |
Last flights of the day
The last flight of the day is a different bet. Across routes from HNL, each airline's final departure was cancelled 0.9% of the time, against 1.2% for its earlier flights, so at HNL the last flight is actually the steadier one. 0.9% of last flights landed 3+ hours late. The riskiest last flight out was Hawaiian Airlines to Portland (2.5% cancelled).
| Last flight to | Airline | Leaves | Cancelled | 3h+ late | On time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDX Portland | Hawaiian Airlines | — | 2.5% | 3.3% | 70% |
| SAN San Diego | Hawaiian Airlines | — | 0.8% | 4.9% | 54% |
| DEN Denver | United Airlines | 9:40 p.m. | 1.1% | 3.0% | 80% |
| DFW Dallas | American Airlines | 6:36 p.m. | 1.6% | 2.5% | 72% |
| SAN San Diego | Alaska Airlines | 9:55 p.m. | 2.5% | 0.4% | 79% |
| SFO San Francisco | Alaska Airlines | 11:26 p.m. | 1.8% | 0.9% | 73% |
| PHX Phoenix | American Airlines | 10:16 p.m. | 1.4% | 1.4% | 80% |
| LAX Los Angeles | Hawaiian Airlines | — | 0.8% | 1.7% | 66% |
| ITO Hilo | Alaska Airlines | 9:05 p.m. | 2.5% | 0.0% | 81% |
| LAS Las Vegas | Alaska Airlines | 11:20 p.m. | 0.4% | 2.1% | 75% |
| PDX Portland | Alaska Airlines | 9:39 p.m. | 1.2% | 1.2% | 79% |
| SEA Seattle | Hawaiian Airlines | — | 0.0% | 2.5% | 73% |
Each airline's last scheduled departure of the day on a route, on days it flies the route at least twice; past 12 months. Riskiest first.
Tips for flying out of HNL
- Book the earliest departure you can live with. At HNL the 6 a.m. flights do best.
- Traveling in January? Leave extra slack for anything that can't move: cruises, weddings, the last connection of the day.
- Choosing between airlines? Southwest Airlines has the better record here.
- Delayed already? Most delays at HNL come from the airlines themselves. If your inbound plane is late, your flight will be too, whatever the board says.
Routes from HNL
Where you're going matters too. Among routes from HNL with at least three flights a day, the most reliable was to Kona (KOA, 84% on time) and the least reliable to Seattle (SEA, 74%). Counting less frequent routes too, Denver (DEN) did best at 86%. Flights into congested airports inherit their delays: an air traffic program at the destination holds planes on the ground here.
Least reliable first. Routes with at least 365 flights a year.
| To | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Typical arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANC Anchorage | 438 | 73% | 0.5% | −5 min |
| ONT Ontario | 446 | 74% | 0.2% | −1 min |
| SEA Seattle | 2,931 | 74% | 1.1% | −2 min |
| SMF Sacramento | 730 | 75% | 0.3% | +1 min |
| PDX Portland | 906 | 75% | 1.7% | +1 min |
| SAN San Diego | 1,774 | 76% | 1.0% | −1 min |
| JFK New York | 659 | 78% | 1.8% | −9 min |
| ATL Atlanta | 383 | 78% | 0.8% | −5 min |
| DFW Dallas | 702 | 79% | 1.7% | −10 min |
| LAX Los Angeles | 5,540 | 80% | 0.6% | −5 min |
| SFO San Francisco | 2,476 | 80% | 1.2% | −4 min |
| GUM Guam | 365 | 80% | 1.6% | −5 min |
| LAS Las Vegas | 2,178 | 80% | 0.4% | −4 min |
| SLC Salt Lake City | 856 | 80% | 1.8% | −5 min |
| LGB Long Beach | 730 | 81% | 0.3% | −3 min |
| OAK Oakland | 729 | 81% | 0.1% | −3 min |
| SJC San Jose | 808 | 81% | 0.0% | −2 min |
| IAH Houston | 365 | 82% | 0.3% | −5 min |
| ITO Hilo | 6,276 | 82% | 1.4% | 0 min |
| LIH Lihue | 7,699 | 82% | 1.5% | 0 min |
| PHX Phoenix | 1,317 | 83% | 0.7% | −7 min |
| OGG Kahului | 9,998 | 83% | 1.1% | 0 min |
| ORD Chicago | 540 | 84% | 0.7% | −13 min |
| KOA Kona | 7,226 | 84% | 1.4% | 0 min |
| MSP Minneapolis | 365 | 85% | 0.8% | −12 min |
| DEN Denver | 650 | 86% | 0.8% | −9 min |
Flights into HNL
Arriving rather than leaving? These are the routes into Honolulu, least reliable first. The weakest is from Portland (59% on time).
| From | Flights | On time | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDX Portland | 903 | 59% | 1.9% |
| SEA Seattle | 2,927 | 65% | 1.1% |
| JFK New York | 666 | 66% | 3.1% |
| DFW Dallas | 702 | 69% | 0.9% |
| SAN San Diego | 1,776 | 70% | 1.6% |
| ORD Chicago | 540 | 72% | 0.2% |
| SLC Salt Lake City | 858 | 74% | 2.1% |
| DEN Denver | 650 | 76% | 0.5% |
| LAX Los Angeles | 5,540 | 76% | 0.5% |
| LAS Las Vegas | 2,184 | 77% | 0.4% |
| ATL Atlanta | 383 | 78% | 0.5% |
| IAH Houston | 365 | 78% | 0.8% |
| PHX Phoenix | 1,317 | 79% | 0.3% |
| OAK Oakland | 729 | 79% | 0.7% |
| SFO San Francisco | 2,477 | 79% | 1.0% |
| ANC Anchorage | 438 | 80% | 0.2% |
| SJC San Jose | 807 | 80% | 0.1% |
| SMF Sacramento | 730 | 81% | 0.1% |
| ITO Hilo | 6,272 | 81% | 1.5% |
| MSP Minneapolis | 365 | 82% | 0.5% |
| KOA Kona | 7,227 | 83% | 1.5% |
| LIH Lihue | 7,701 | 83% | 1.7% |
| OGG Kahului | 10,001 | 83% | 1.3% |
| ONT Ontario | 446 | 85% | 0.2% |
| GUM Guam | 365 | 86% | 2.7% |
Showing the 25 least reliable of 26 routes into HNL.
Questions about HNL delays
What is the best time to fly out of HNL?
Flights scheduled at 6 a.m.: over the past year 94% of HNL departures at that hour arrived on time, against 72% at noon, the worst hour.
What month has the most flight delays at HNL?
January (80% on time). September is the best month (90%).
Which airline is most on time at HNL?
Southwest Airlines: 90% of its HNL departures arrived on time over the past year. Alaska Airlines had the weakest record at 76%.
Why are flights delayed at HNL?
The biggest cause was the airlines themselves (53% of delay minutes): crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling and baggage. Then late-arriving aircraft (33%).
How often are flights cancelled at HNL?
1.1% of scheduled departures over the past 12 months, peaking in January at 2.0%.
Hours are scheduled local departure times. "On time" means arriving less than 15 minutes late at the destination; cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time. Method.