Flight cancellations by airlineChecked 15 November 2026

Spirit cancelled 7.5% of its flights in 2026 before its figures stopped in May, the worst of any US airline

Jeremy CabralGrowth advisor Checked

Spirit cancelled 7.47% of its flights in 2026, the highest share of any US airline that reports to the Department of Transportation, but its figures stop in May. 1 Of the airlines with figures for all eight months to August, JetBlue cancelled the most at 4.31% and Allegiant the least at 0.79%.

Spirit and JetBlue cancelled the largest shares of their 2026 schedules

7.47%Spirit's flights cancelled in 2026, 3,525 of 47,202 1January to May. BTS has 354 Spirit flights for May and none after
4.31%JetBlue, January to August 2026 17,131 flights. Highest of the airlines with all eight months
0.79%Allegiant, the lowest January to August 2026 1687 flights
1.82%American, the highest in 2025 1Allegiant was lowest at 0.47%
2.27%All reporting airlines, January to August 2026 (118,914 flights) 1Against 1.53% in all of 2025 (118,168 flights)
4.82%Of all flights cancelled in January 2026 (29,078) 1The month of Winter Storm Fern

JetBlue cancelled the most of any airline that reported all eight months of 2026

Share of each airline's scheduled flights cancelled, January to August 2026 against all of 2025. Spirit's 2026 figures stop in May. Hawaiian reports with Alaska from 2026.

January to August 20262025
Spirit Jan to May
7.47%1.50%
JetBlue
4.31%1.65%
American
2.63%1.82%
Frontier
2.32%1.77%
Delta
1.99%1.08%
United
1.23%0.82%
Alaska
1.14%1.21%
Southwest
1.03%0.85%
Allegiant
0.79%0.47%
Hawaiian 2025 only
no 2026 figures0.82%

US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Statistics and Delay Causes, marketing carrier basis, read 15 November 2026.

8 of 9 airlines cancelled a larger share in 2026 than in 2025, and Alaska a smaller one

Each airline's 2025 figure sits beside its figure for January to August 2026. Sort by any column or filter by airline or period.

AirlinePeriodFlights operatedCancelledCancelled %On time %
SpiritJan to May 202647,2023,5257.47%59.84%
JetBlueJan to Aug 2026165,6217,1314.31%67.26%
AmericanJan to Aug 2026667,41817,5662.63%71.62%
FrontierJan to Aug 2026147,4203,4272.32%69.67%
DeltaJan to Aug 2026694,93113,8461.99%78.74%
American2025973,65317,6791.82%72.70%
Frontier2025198,0653,5081.77%70.68%
JetBlue2025231,4133,8251.65%72.34%
Spirit2025194,5152,9271.50%77.25%
UnitedJan to Aug 2026559,3046,8771.23%76.99%
Alaska2025245,5882,9741.21%75.75%
AlaskaJan to Aug 2026227,6062,5951.14%78.77%
Delta20251,026,33211,1141.08%79.12%
SouthwestJan to Aug 2026927,8329,5441.03%73.14%
Southwest20251,391,88511,7990.85%77.76%
Hawaiian202580,0846600.82%81.95%
United2025795,2716,5270.82%77.65%
AllegiantJan to Aug 202687,4426870.79%72.14%
Allegiant2025130,8996150.47%74.46%

January 2026 was the worst month in the 20 months shown

All reporting airlines together cancelled 118,914 flights from January to August 2026, more than the 118,168 cancelled in the whole of 2025. 1 January 2026 alone, the month of Winter Storm Fern, accounts for 29,078 of them, 4.82% of that month's flights. Comparing eight months with twelve says nothing on its own about the direction of future years.

MonthYearFlights operatedCancelledCancelled %On time %
Jan 20252025599,01318,7403.13%78.35%
Feb 20252025559,5778,5411.53%77.77%
Mar 20252025664,9327,5811.14%79.39%
Apr 20252025644,0845,2910.82%79.59%
May 20252025667,5867,5491.13%75.33%
Jun 20252025674,17911,9071.77%70.15%
Jul 20252025696,04917,9482.58%69.23%
Aug 20252025666,2426,9001.04%76.78%
Sep 20252025621,6013,0970.50%83.14%
Oct 20252025668,3323,6940.55%79.45%
Nov 20252025630,18816,3802.60%77.34%
Dec 20252025644,98710,5401.63%71.74%
Jan 20262026602,95329,0784.82%75.28%
Feb 20262026568,78913,3482.35%78.46%
Mar 20262026675,50019,8852.94%73.36%
Apr 20262026660,6745,8770.89%79.18%
May 20262026677,2086,3530.94%77.78%
Jun 20262026671,78111,4571.71%73.12%
Jul 20262026697,75419,4382.79%69.49%
Aug 20262026673,06513,4782.00%71.53%

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The counts here depend on who counted and when

  • Figures are the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on-time and delay-cause series on the marketing carrier basis. An airline's figure includes flights operated for it by regional partners under its brand, so it differs slightly from tables by operating carrier.
  • BTS counts a flight as on time when it arrives less than 15 minutes late. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.
  • Spirit's 2026 figures cover January to early May: BTS has 11,915, 11,512, 12,952 and 10,469 Spirit flights for January to April and 354 for May, and none for June to August. The DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report shows Spirit as N/A from June 2026. 2
  • Hawaiian has no 2026 row. It reports on one operating certificate with Alaska from 29 October 2025.
  • BTS publishes each month about six to seven weeks after it ends. August 2026 was the latest month available on 15 November 2026.
  • The 2026 total passing 2025's is a comparison of eight months with twelve, and January 2026 carries a quarter of it. It is a fact about these two periods only.

Full data for this page: Cancellations by airline and by month (CSV). Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a credit and a link.

Sources

2 sources
  1. 1US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Statistics and Delay Causes (TranStats) Checked at source
  2. 2US DOT Air Travel Consumer Report, October 2026 (revised 22 October 2026) Checked at source

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