Holiday travel
Memorial Day at PHX
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, AZ. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against PHX’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 better in two and worse in one of the three years. The gap ran from 2.2 points below usual in 2026 to 5.8 points above usual in 2024.
0.50% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Memorial Day windows, against 0.39% 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 | 1,502 | 82.5% | 76.7% | +5.8better | 0.13% | 0.39% |
| 2025May 24–26, 2025 | 1,528 | 79.7% | 76.7% | +3.0better | 0.65% | 0.39% |
| 2026May 23–25, 2026 | 1,533 | 74.4% | 76.6% | −2.2worse | 0.72% | 0.39% |
| All years3 windows | 4,563 | 78.8% | 76.7% | +2.1better | 0.50% | 0.39% |
Day by day
Memorial Day was the worst day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 75.1% on time, about level with an ordinary Monday.
No day was the best more than once: Monday, May 27 in 2024, Saturday, May 24 in 2025, and Sunday, May 24 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. 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: 2024, 2025, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday beforeoutside the window | 2% more | 75.6% | 74.5% | +1.1about the same | 0.35% | 79.9 · 79.0 · 67.6 |
| Friday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 75.9% | 75.3% | +0.6about the same | 0.41% | 73.0 · 86.9 · 67.7 |
| Saturday before | 10% fewer | 80.0% | 81.8% | −1.8about the same | 0.15% | 81.0 · 84.8 · 74.0 |
| Sunday before | 7% fewer | 81.9% | 74.1% | +7.8better | 0.52% | 83.1 · 80.8 · 81.8 |
| Memorial Day | about the same | 75.1% | 75.0% | +0.1about the same | 0.77% | 83.1 · 74.6 · 67.9 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | 2% more | 72.4% | 77.6% | −5.2worse | 1.26% | 67.1 · 77.4 · 72.5 |
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 PHX were Sunday, May 26, 2024 (507 departures), Monday, May 27, 2024 (549 departures), Sunday, May 25, 2025 (509 departures), Monday, May 26, 2025 (571 departures), Sunday, May 24, 2026 (519 departures), and Monday, May 25, 2026 (575 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 89.0%, about level with usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 69.9%, still 1.6 points above usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 6–9 PM did best (+6.5 points) and those leaving 5–9 AM did worst (−0.4 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 91.0%, 2.0 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 67.3%, still 2.7 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 6–9 PM the most (8.0 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 5–9 AM the least (2.0 points above).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 89.0% | 89.4% | −0.4about the same | 91.0% | 89.0% | +2.0about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 84.5% | 81.3% | +3.2better | 85.4% | 79.5% | +5.9better |
| 12–3 PM | 76.5% | 75.2% | +1.3about the same | 75.8% | 73.4% | +2.4about the same |
| 3–6 PM | 69.9% | 68.3% | +1.6about the same | 67.3% | 64.6% | +2.7about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 70.5% | 64.0% | +6.5better | 69.6% | 61.6% | +8.0better |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 76.5% | 75.0% | +1.5about the same | 75.2% | 72.9% | +2.3about the same |
PHX beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts PHX’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether PHX did better or worse than the network.
| Year | PHX on time | PHX, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024May 25–27, 2024 | 82.5% | +5.8 | 72.7% | −2.3 |
| 2025May 24–26, 2025 | 79.7% | +3.0 | 76.4% | +1.4 |
| 2026May 23–25, 2026 | 74.4% | −2.2 | 75.0% | 0.0 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at PHX, or the network view.