Holiday travel
Thanksgiving at HNL
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honolulu, HI. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against HNL’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.
The window, year by year
The window runs the Wednesday before through the Sunday after, around Thanksgiving Day (the fourth Thursday of November). In the data: Nov 22–26, 2023; Nov 27 – Dec 1, 2024; Nov 26–30, 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, Thanksgiving flights were better in two and worse in one of the three years. The gap ran from 7.5 points below usual in 2025 to 10.1 points above usual in 2023.
0.21% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Thanksgiving windows, against 0.98% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in all three years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Nov 22–26, 2023 | 845 | 95.1% | 85.0% | +10.1better | 0.24% | 0.99% |
| 2024Nov 27 – Dec 1, 2024 | 808 | 93.3% | 85.0% | +8.3better | 0.25% | 0.98% |
| 2025Nov 26–30, 2025 | 774 | 77.6% | 85.1% | −7.5worse | 0.13% | 0.98% |
| All years3 windows | 2,427 | 88.9% | 85.0% | +3.9better | 0.21% | 0.98% |
Day by day
The Sunday after Thanksgiving was the worst day of the window in all three years. Over the years it ran 83.0% on time, 3.8 points below an ordinary Sunday.
The Friday after Thanksgiving was the best day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 93.0% on time, 10.9 points above an ordinary Friday.
Thanksgiving Day itself carried 13% fewer departures than an ordinary Thursday and ran 92.2% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 90.3% | 86.6% | +3.7better | 0.40% | 91.3 · 89.8 · 89.8 |
| Tuesday beforeoutside the window | 2% more | 89.1% | 87.7% | +1.4about the same | 0.41% | 91.6 · 90.2 · 85.4 |
| Wednesday before | 3% more | 89.8% | 85.0% | +4.8better | 0.40% | 96.5 · 91.0 · 81.2 |
| Thanksgiving Day | 13% fewer | 92.2% | 83.2% | +9.0better | 0.23% | 95.7 · 97.2 · 82.6 |
| Friday after | 3% fewer | 93.0% | 82.1% | +10.9better | 0.00% | 96.5 · 95.0 · 87.1 |
| Saturday after | 2% more | 87.1% | 87.7% | −0.6about the same | 0.40% | 94.1 · 95.2 · 71.7 |
| Sunday after | 2% more | 83.0% | 86.8% | −3.8worse | 0.00% | 92.9 · 88.7 · 67.3 |
| Monday afteroutside the window | about the same | 84.5% | 86.6% | −2.1about the same | 0.79% | 92.5 · 85.2 · 75.2 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | about the same | 82.4% | 87.7% | −5.3worse | 1.03% | 89.1 · 92.5 · 64.5 |
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 HNL were Friday, Nov 24, 2023 (173 departures), Saturday, Nov 25, 2023 (171 departures), Wednesday, Nov 27, 2024 (170 departures), Sunday, Dec 1, 2024 (168 departures), Saturday, Nov 29, 2025 (167 departures), and Sunday, Nov 30, 2025 (165 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 94.3%, 1.5 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 9 PM–5 AM had the lowest: 82.6%, 1.8 points below usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 3–6 PM did best (+7.9 points) and those leaving 9 PM–5 AM did worst (−1.8 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 94.0%, 1.4 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 79.7%, 6.0 points below usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 9 AM–12 PM did best (+3.2 points) and those leaving 6–9 PM did worst (−6.0 points).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 94.3% | 92.8% | +1.5about the same | 94.0% | 92.6% | +1.4about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 94.2% | 89.3% | +4.9better | 93.8% | 90.6% | +3.2about the same |
| 12–3 PM | 85.8% | 80.0% | +5.8better | 81.3% | 81.7% | −0.4about the same |
| 3–6 PM | 89.2% | 81.3% | +7.9better | 85.0% | 82.6% | +2.4about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 86.6% | 84.9% | +1.7about the same | 79.7% | 85.7% | −6.0about the same |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 82.6% | 84.4% | −1.8about the same | — | — | — |
HNL beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts HNL’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether HNL did better or worse than the network.
| Year | HNL on time | HNL, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Nov 22–26, 2023 | 95.1% | +10.1 | 83.7% | +1.9 |
| 2024Nov 27 – Dec 1, 2024 | 93.3% | +8.3 | 82.6% | +0.8 |
| 2025Nov 26–30, 2025 | 77.6% | −7.5 | 72.8% | −9.0 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at HNL, or the network view.