Holiday travel
Christmas to New Year’s at CMH
John Glenn Columbus International Airport, Columbus, OH. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against CMH’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.
The window, year by year
The window runs December 23 through January 2, around Christmas Day (December 25). In the data: Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024; Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025; Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026. Christmas Day fell on a Monday in 2023, Wednesday in 2024, and Thursday in 2025. Three windows are in the data: enough to see whether a day repeats, not enough to call it a rule.
Compared with ordinary days, Christmas to New Year’s flights were better in one, about the same in one, and worse in one of the three years. The gap ran from 9.8 points below usual in 2025 to 6.2 points above usual in 2023.
0.70% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Christmas to New Year’s windows, against 1.40% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in two of the three years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024 | 1,108 | 85.9% | 79.7% | +6.2better | 0.54% | 1.48% |
| 2024Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025 | 1,163 | 81.4% | 80.5% | +0.9about the same | 0.26% | 1.36% |
| 2025Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026 | 1,170 | 70.6% | 80.4% | −9.8worse | 1.28% | 1.36% |
| All years3 windows | 3,441 | 79.2% | 80.2% | −1.0about the same | 0.70% | 1.40% |
Day by day
No single day has enough flights in one year to compare the years, so the days are ranked on all three years pooled: December 29 ran lowest (65.9% on time, 11.7 points below usual) and Christmas Day highest (94.1%, 11.6 points above usual). This cannot say whether the same day was worst or best in each year.
Christmas Day itself carried 28% fewer departures than an ordinary day of the same weekday and ran 94.1% 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.
| Day | Departures against an ordinary day | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Each year: 2023, 2024, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 19Tue, Thu, Fri · outside the window | 5% more | 72.8% | 80.4% | −7.6worse | 0.57% | — · — · 44.8 |
| Dec 20Wed, Fri, Sat · outside the window | 7% more | 77.1% | 80.8% | −3.7about the same | 0.58% | — · 70.0 · — |
| Dec 21Thu, Sat, Sun · outside the window | 8% more | 84.6% | 79.7% | +4.9better | 0.86% | — · — · — |
| Dec 22Fri, Sun, Mon · outside the window | 3% more | 86.9% | 77.6% | +9.3better | 0.56% | — · — · — |
| Dec 23Sat, Mon, Tue | 6% more | 87.0% | 79.2% | +7.8better | 0.29% | — · — · — |
| Dec 24Sun, Tue, Wed | 23% fewer | 88.0% | 80.7% | +7.3better | 1.18% | — · — · — |
| Christmas Day (Dec 25)Mon, Wed, Thu | 28% fewer | 94.1% | 82.5% | +11.6better | 1.22% | — · — · — |
| Dec 26Tue, Thu, Fri | 2% more | 75.3% | 80.5% | −5.2worse | 2.91% | — · — · — |
| Dec 27Wed, Fri, Sat | 4% more | 72.5% | 80.8% | −8.3worse | 0.90% | — · — · — |
| Dec 28Thu, Sat, Sun | 5% more | 68.3% | 79.6% | −11.3worse | 0.29% | — · — · — |
| Dec 29Fri, Sun, Mon | about the same | 65.9% | 77.6% | −11.7worse | 0.29% | — · — · — |
| Dec 30Sat, Mon, Tue | 8% more | 84.2% | 79.3% | +4.9better | 0.58% | — · — · 69.4 |
| Dec 31Sun, Tue, Wed | 17% fewer | 73.8% | 80.7% | −6.9worse | 0.00% | — · — · — |
| Jan 1Mon, Wed, Thu | 18% fewer | 80.9% | 82.4% | −1.5about the same | 0.00% | — · — · — |
| Jan 2Tue, Thu, Fri | 3% more | 86.4% | 80.5% | +5.9better | 0.00% | — · — · — |
| Jan 3Wed, Fri, Sat · outside the window | about the same | 70.2% | 80.7% | −10.5worse | 0.32% | — · — · — |
| Jan 4Thu, Sat, Sun · outside the window | about the same | 84.7% | 79.4% | +5.3better | 0.00% | — · — · — |
| Jan 5Fri, Sun, Mon · outside the window | 5% fewer | 82.2% | 77.6% | +4.6better | 1.53% | — · — · — |
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 CMH were Tuesday, Dec 26, 2023 (111 departures), Tuesday, Jan 2, 2024 (111 departures), Monday, Dec 23, 2024 (118 departures), Thursday, Jan 2, 2025 (119 departures), Sunday, Dec 28, 2025 (119 departures), and Tuesday, Dec 30, 2025 (123 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 87.0%, 2.6 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 67.3%, 4.5 points below usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 5–9 AM did best (+2.6 points) and those leaving 6–9 PM did worst (−4.5 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 90.6%, 8.0 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 70.2%, 6.5 points below usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 5–9 AM did best (+8.0 points) and those leaving 3–6 PM did worst (−6.5 points).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 87.0% | 84.4% | +2.6better | 90.6% | 82.6% | +8.0better |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 81.0% | 85.2% | −4.2worse | — | — | — |
| 12–3 PM | 79.7% | 77.7% | +2.0about the same | — | — | — |
| 3–6 PM | 73.2% | 76.3% | −3.1about the same | 70.2% | 76.7% | −6.5about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 67.3% | 71.8% | −4.5about the same | — | — | — |
| 9 PM–5 AM | — | — | — | — | — | — |
CMH beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts CMH’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether CMH did better or worse than the network.
| Year | CMH on time | CMH, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024 | 85.9% | +6.2 | 81.0% | +2.2 |
| 2024Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025 | 81.4% | +0.9 | 76.2% | −3.4 |
| 2025Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026 | 70.6% | −9.8 | 71.1% | −8.5 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at CMH, or the network view.