Holiday travel
Christmas to New Year’s at MCI
Kansas City International Airport, Kansas City, MO. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against MCI’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 about the same in one and worse in two of the three years. The gap ran from 4.6 points below usual in 2023 to 0.5 points above usual in 2024.
0.90% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Christmas to New Year’s windows, against 3.14% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in all three years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024 | 1,429 | 75.8% | 80.4% | −4.6worse | 0.91% | 3.59% |
| 2024Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025 | 1,378 | 81.9% | 81.4% | +0.5about the same | 0.58% | 2.98% |
| 2025Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026 | 1,402 | 77.3% | 81.5% | −4.2worse | 1.21% | 2.84% |
| All years3 windows | 4,209 | 78.3% | 81.1% | −2.8worse | 0.90% | 3.14% |
Day by day
December 28 (Thu, Sat, Sun) was the worst day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 64.0% on time, 18.2 points below what ordinary days of the same weekdays had.
No day was the best more than once: Monday, Jan 1 in 2023, Monday, Dec 23 in 2024, and Friday, Jan 2 in 2025.
Christmas Day itself carried 12% fewer departures than an ordinary day of the same weekday and ran 85.8% 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 30%, 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 | 8% more | 74.8% | 81.7% | −6.9worse | 0.74% | 85.8 · 78.2 · 60.6 |
| Dec 20Wed, Fri, Sat · outside the window | 15% more | 79.2% | 82.0% | −2.8about the same | 1.48% | 89.2 · 75.7 · 71.8 |
| Dec 21Thu, Sat, Sun · outside the window | 13% more | 86.0% | 82.3% | +3.7better | 0.24% | 90.8 · 75.6 · 90.6 |
| Dec 22Fri, Sun, Mon · outside the window | 6% more | 85.8% | 77.6% | +8.2better | 0.00% | 85.6 · 88.1 · 83.8 |
| Dec 23Sat, Mon, Tue | 13% more | 87.6% | 78.4% | +9.2better | 1.00% | 82.0 · 94.1 · 86.2 |
| Dec 24Sun, Tue, Wed | 11% fewer | 79.1% | 82.9% | −3.8about the same | 3.36% | — · — · — |
| Christmas Day (Dec 25)Mon, Wed, Thu | 12% fewer | 85.8% | 82.5% | +3.3about the same | 0.30% | 69.7 · — · — |
| Dec 26Tue, Thu, Fri | 9% more | 63.6% | 81.7% | −18.1worse | 1.70% | 39.9 · 74.4 · 77.4 |
| Dec 27Wed, Fri, Sat | 14% more | 65.8% | 81.9% | −16.1worse | 0.74% | 55.9 · 75.9 · 65.4 |
| Dec 28Thu, Sat, Sun | 13% more | 64.0% | 82.2% | −18.2worse | 0.73% | 84.2 · 58.1 · 49.3 |
| Dec 29Fri, Sun, Mon | 6% more | 75.1% | 77.6% | −2.5about the same | 0.96% | 88.5 · 73.1 · 63.5 |
| Dec 30Sat, Mon, Tue | 14% more | 81.6% | 78.4% | +3.2about the same | 0.25% | 81.9 · 86.8 · 76.3 |
| Dec 31Sun, Tue, Wed | 7% fewer | 85.9% | 82.9% | +3.0about the same | 0.58% | 90.2 · — · — |
| Jan 1Mon, Wed, Thu | 7% fewer | 89.8% | 82.7% | +7.1better | 0.28% | 88.7 · — · — |
| Jan 2Tue, Thu, Fri | 8% more | 87.5% | 81.7% | +5.8better | 0.24% | 84.3 · 90.4 · 87.7 |
| Jan 3Wed, Fri, Sat · outside the window | 11% more | 79.0% | 81.9% | −2.9about the same | 0.26% | 78.9 · 80.2 · 77.8 |
| Jan 4Thu, Sat, Sun · outside the window | 10% more | 82.0% | 82.4% | −0.4about the same | 8.56% | 87.0 · 68.8 · 86.2 |
| Jan 5Fri, Sun, Mon · outside the window | 2% more | 77.8% | 76.3% | +1.5about the same | 34.42% | 71.2 · — · 84.5 |
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 MCI were Tuesday, Dec 26, 2023 (139 departures), Thursday, Dec 28, 2023 (139 departures), Friday, Dec 27, 2024 (137 departures), Monday, Dec 30, 2024 (137 departures), Sunday, Dec 28, 2025 (142 departures), and Monday, Dec 29, 2025 (140 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 88.3%, 2.1 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 66.6%, 6.0 points below usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 5–9 AM did best (+2.1 points) and those leaving 6–9 PM did worst (−6.0 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 81.8%, still 3.4 points below usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 51.0%, 22.0 points below usual for that time of day.
The holiday cost flights leaving 3–6 PM the most (22.0 points below usual for that time of day) and those leaving 5–9 AM the least (3.4 points below).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 88.3% | 86.2% | +2.1better | 81.8% | 85.2% | −3.4about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 82.2% | 83.6% | −1.4about the same | 71.2% | 82.3% | −11.1worse |
| 12–3 PM | 76.1% | 80.9% | −4.8worse | 61.5% | 78.1% | −16.6worse |
| 3–6 PM | 71.3% | 76.5% | −5.2worse | 51.0% | 73.0% | −22.0worse |
| 6–9 PM | 66.6% | 72.6% | −6.0worse | 55.1% | 73.1% | −18.0worse |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 69.9% | — | — | — | — | — |
MCI beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts MCI’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether MCI did better or worse than the network.
| Year | MCI on time | MCI, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Dec 23, 2023 – Jan 2, 2024 | 75.8% | −4.6 | 81.0% | +2.2 |
| 2024Dec 23, 2024 – Jan 2, 2025 | 81.9% | +0.5 | 76.2% | −3.4 |
| 2025Dec 23, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026 | 77.3% | −4.2 | 71.1% | −8.5 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at MCI, or the network view.