Holiday travel
Memorial Day 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 the Saturday through the Monday, around Memorial Day (the last Monday of May). In the data: May 25–27, 2024; May 24–26, 2025; May 23–25, 2026. Three windows are in the data: enough to see whether a day repeats, not enough to call it a rule.
Compared with ordinary days, Memorial Day flights were about the same in two and worse in one of the three years. The gap ran from 5.6 points below usual in 2024 to 3.8 points above usual in 2025.
1.05% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Memorial Day windows, against 1.08% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in one of the three years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024May 25–27, 2024 | 324 | 75.0% | 80.6% | −5.6worse | 2.16% | 1.08% |
| 2025May 24–26, 2025 | 360 | 84.3% | 80.5% | +3.8about the same | 0.28% | 1.08% |
| 2026May 23–25, 2026 | 362 | 79.0% | 80.6% | −1.6about the same | 0.83% | 1.08% |
| All years3 windows | 1,046 | 79.6% | 80.6% | −1.0about the same | 1.05% | 1.08% |
Day by day
No day was the worst more than once: Monday, May 26 in 2025 and Sunday, May 24 in 2026.
No day was the best more than once: Sunday, May 25 in 2025 and Monday, May 25 in 2026.
- 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: 2024, 2025, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 72.4% | 77.1% | −4.7worse | 2.31% | 65.5 · 74.4 · 76.5 |
| Friday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 78.3% | 79.3% | −1.0about the same | 1.02% | 75.8 · 85.3 · 73.9 |
| Saturday before | 5% fewer | 82.1% | 82.6% | −0.5about the same | 0.32% | — · — · — |
| Sunday before | 11% fewer | 78.5% | 79.2% | −0.7about the same | 0.86% | — · 87.0 · 75.4 |
| Memorial Day | about the same | 78.6% | 80.2% | −1.6about the same | 1.80% | 73.1 · 82.0 · 80.2 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | about the same | 83.9% | 83.1% | +0.8about the same | 0.84% | — · 83.5 · — |
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 Sunday, May 26, 2024 (104 departures), Monday, May 27, 2024 (125 departures), Sunday, May 25, 2025 (123 departures), Monday, May 26, 2025 (130 departures), Sunday, May 24, 2026 (121 departures), and Monday, May 25, 2026 (133 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 9 AM–12 PM had the highest on-time rate: 88.0%, still 1.2 points below usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 64.2%, 2.0 points below usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 3–6 PM did best (+4.5 points) and those leaving 5–9 AM did worst (−4.6 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 87.6%, still 2.7 points below usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 72.2%, still 3.9 points above usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 3–6 PM did best (+3.9 points) and those leaving 5–9 AM did worst (−2.7 points).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 85.6% | 90.2% | −4.6worse | 87.6% | 90.3% | −2.7about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 88.0% | 89.2% | −1.2about the same | — | — | — |
| 12–3 PM | 76.8% | 77.4% | −0.6about the same | — | — | — |
| 3–6 PM | 74.3% | 69.8% | +4.5about the same | 72.2% | 68.3% | +3.9about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 64.2% | 66.2% | −2.0about 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024May 25–27, 2024 | 75.0% | −5.6 | 72.7% | −2.3 |
| 2025May 24–26, 2025 | 84.3% | +3.8 | 76.4% | +1.4 |
| 2026May 23–25, 2026 | 79.0% | −1.6 | 75.0% | 0.0 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at CMH, or the network view.