Holiday travel
July 4 at CLE
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, OH. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against CLE’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.
The window, year by year
The window runs July 1 through July 5, around July 4, whatever weekday it falls on. In the data: Jul 1–5, 2023; Jul 1–5, 2024; Jul 1–5, 2025; Jul 1–5, 2026. July 4 fell on a Tuesday in 2023, Thursday in 2024, Friday in 2025, and Saturday in 2026. Four windows are in the data: enough to see whether a day repeats, not enough to call it a rule.
Compared with ordinary days, July 4 flights were better in three and about the same in one of the four years. The gap ran from 2.0 points above usual in 2023 to 12.5 points above usual in 2024.
2.79% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the July 4 windows, against 3.39% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in one of the four years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Jul 1–5, 2023 | 546 | 77.3% | 75.3% | +2.0about the same | 2.20% | 3.36% |
| 2024Jul 1–5, 2024 | 584 | 87.7% | 75.2% | +12.5better | 1.37% | 3.41% |
| 2025Jul 1–5, 2025 | 516 | 81.5% | 75.2% | +6.3better | 3.68% | 3.25% |
| 2026Jul 1–5, 2026 | 579 | 78.7% | 74.4% | +4.3better | 3.97% | 3.51% |
| All years4 windows | 2,225 | 81.4% | 75.0% | +6.4better | 2.79% | 3.39% |
Day by day
No day was the worst more than once: Monday, Jul 1 in 2024 and Sunday, Jul 5 in 2026.
No day was the best more than once: Wednesday, Jul 3 in 2024 and Wednesday, Jul 1 in 2026.
July 4 itself carried 19% fewer departures than an ordinary day of the same weekday and ran 84.2% on time.
- Better than usual
- Worse than usual
- About the same
- What ordinary days of the same weekday had
- Lowest to highest single year
- Lighter bars: days just outside the window
Bars show the on-time arrival rate and start at 60%, not zero. A dashed stub is a day with too few flights to print a rate.
| Day | Departures against an ordinary day | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Each year: 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 28Fri, Sat, Sun · outside the window | about the same | 78.0% | 72.8% | +5.2better | 4.21% | — · 78.0 · — · 82.1 |
| Jun 29Sat, Sun, Mon · outside the window | about the same | 76.9% | 74.1% | +2.8about the same | 1.39% | — · — · 68.4 · 84.0 |
| Jun 30Sun, Mon, Tue · outside the window | 2% fewer | 74.7% | 74.6% | +0.1about the same | 3.89% | — · 68.1 · 72.3 · — |
| Jul 1Sat, Mon, Tue, Wed | 5% fewer | 80.6% | 75.9% | +4.7better | 4.24% | — · 84.6 · — · 82.4 |
| Jul 2Sun, Tue, Wed, Thu | 5% fewer | 80.2% | 75.5% | +4.7better | 1.96% | — · 86.8 · — · 79.2 |
| Jul 3Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri | 5% fewer | 82.1% | 74.8% | +7.3better | 2.55% | — · 89.4 · 76.1 · — |
| July 4Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat | 19% fewer | 84.2% | 74.6% | +9.6better | 2.84% | — · — · — · — |
| Jul 5Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun | 4% fewer | 80.3% | 74.1% | +6.2better | 2.40% | 76.0 · — · — · 69.6 |
| Jul 6Thu, Sat, Sun, Mon · outside the window | about the same | 71.6% | 74.4% | −2.8about the same | 2.30% | — · — · 74.8 · 68.1 |
| Jul 7Fri, Sun, Mon, Tue · outside the window | about the same | 73.2% | 73.8% | −0.6about the same | 3.27% | — · 80.2 · 71.3 · — |
| Jul 8Sat, Mon, Tue, Wed · outside the window | 4% fewer | 76.3% | 75.9% | +0.4about the same | 3.30% | — · 80.8 · — · — |
A dash means fewer than 120 flights stood behind the figure, or behind the ordinary days it would be compared with: too few to print a rate, and nothing is estimated in its place. “Usual” is what ordinary days of the same weekday had at the same place in the weeks around the holiday, weighted by the flights being compared.
Which departure times held up
The busiest days at CLE were Sunday, Jul 2, 2023 (109 departures), Wednesday, Jul 5, 2023 (124 departures), Tuesday, Jul 2, 2024 (123 departures), Wednesday, Jul 3, 2024 (123 departures), Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 (102 departures), Thursday, Jul 3, 2025 (122 departures), Thursday, Jul 2, 2026 (125 departures), and Sunday, Jul 5, 2026 (122 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 90.7%, 3.0 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 68.7%, still 11.3 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 6–9 PM the most (11.3 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 5–9 AM the least (3.0 points above).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 90.4%, 1.3 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 66.7%, still 10.0 points above usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 6–9 PM did best (+10.0 points) and those leaving 12–3 PM did worst (−2.6 points).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 90.7% | 87.7% | +3.0better | 90.4% | 89.1% | +1.3about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 87.4% | 83.3% | +4.1better | 87.9% | 84.1% | +3.8about the same |
| 12–3 PM | 77.0% | 73.2% | +3.8about the same | 71.9% | 74.5% | −2.6about the same |
| 3–6 PM | 74.2% | 63.4% | +10.8better | 68.8% | 64.1% | +4.7about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 68.7% | 57.4% | +11.3better | 66.7% | 56.7% | +10.0better |
| 9 PM–5 AM | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Cancellations
The worst day for cancellations in each year was Sunday, Jul 5, 2026 (5.74% of that day’s departures, 30% of the window’s cancellations).
CLE beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts CLE’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether CLE did better or worse than the network.
| Year | CLE on time | CLE, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Jul 1–5, 2023 | 77.3% | +2.0 | 73.9% | +2.9 |
| 2024Jul 1–5, 2024 | 87.7% | +12.5 | 82.2% | +11.7 |
| 2025Jul 1–5, 2025 | 81.5% | +6.3 | 73.5% | +2.3 |
| 2026Jul 1–5, 2026 | 78.7% | +4.3 | 73.1% | +3.2 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at CLE, or the network view.