Holiday travel
Labor Day at TPA
Tampa International Airport, Tampa, FL. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against TPA’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 Labor Day (the first Monday of September). In the data: Sep 2–4, 2023; Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024; Aug 30 – Sep 1, 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, Labor Day flights were better in one and about the same in two of the three years. The gap ran from 0.2 points above usual in 2025 to 11.2 points above usual in 2023.
0.67% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Labor Day windows, against 1.51% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Sep 2–4, 2023 | 569 | 91.9% | 80.7% | +11.2better | 0.18% | 1.46% |
| 2024Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024 | 518 | 83.7% | 80.6% | +3.1about the same | 0.58% | 1.54% |
| 2025Aug 30 – Sep 1, 2025 | 558 | 80.8% | 80.6% | +0.2about the same | 1.25% | 1.54% |
| All years3 windows | 1,645 | 85.6% | 80.6% | +5.0better | 0.67% | 1.51% |
Day by day
The Sunday before Labor Day was the worst day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 81.0% on time, about level with an ordinary Sunday.
No day was the best more than once: Sunday, Sep 3 in 2023, Saturday, Aug 31 in 2024, and Monday, Sep 1 in 2025.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 77.1% | 76.2% | +0.9about the same | 3.04% | 78.3 · 68.7 · 84.2 |
| Friday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 73.1% | 76.1% | −3.0about the same | 0.51% | 68.4 · 69.8 · 80.1 |
| Saturday before | about the same | 87.1% | 82.0% | +5.1better | 0.72% | 89.0 · 85.7 · 86.3 |
| Sunday before | 18% fewer | 81.0% | 80.7% | +0.3about the same | 1.20% | 96.4 · 80.4 · 66.3 |
| Labor Day | 2% fewer | 88.0% | 79.2% | +8.8better | 0.17% | 91.0 · 84.6 · 88.2 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | about the same | 85.7% | 85.2% | +0.5about the same | 0.39% | 88.3 · 79.6 · 88.9 |
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 TPA were Saturday, Sep 2, 2023 (209 departures), Monday, Sep 4, 2023 (190 departures), Saturday, Aug 31, 2024 (170 departures), Monday, Sep 2, 2024 (190 departures), Saturday, Aug 30, 2025 (179 departures), and Monday, Sep 1, 2025 (205 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 93.3%, 1.1 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 76.0%, still 8.6 points above usual for that time of day.
Against usual for their time of day, flights leaving 12–3 PM did best (+10.2 points) and those leaving 9 AM–12 PM did worst (−2.1 points).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 94.6%, 3.1 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 76.5%, still 7.1 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 12–3 PM the most (13.3 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 5–9 AM the least (3.1 points above).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 93.3% | 92.2% | +1.1about the same | 94.6% | 91.5% | +3.1better |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 83.6% | 85.7% | −2.1about the same | 89.5% | 84.9% | +4.6better |
| 12–3 PM | 89.2% | 79.0% | +10.2better | 91.0% | 77.7% | +13.3better |
| 3–6 PM | 80.1% | 71.8% | +8.3better | 78.9% | 72.5% | +6.4better |
| 6–9 PM | 76.0% | 67.4% | +8.6better | 76.5% | 69.4% | +7.1better |
| 9 PM–5 AM | — | — | — | — | — | — |
TPA beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts TPA’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether TPA did better or worse than the network.
| Year | TPA on time | TPA, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Sep 2–4, 2023 | 91.9% | +11.2 | 87.4% | +7.6 |
| 2024Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024 | 83.7% | +3.1 | 82.1% | +2.4 |
| 2025Aug 30 – Sep 1, 2025 | 80.8% | +0.2 | 82.2% | +2.5 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at TPA, or the network view.