If you’re flying out for Thanksgiving, it does not look like your flight will be impacted by the latest travel restrictions that have been in place for the last 10 days. Flight delays and cancellations are trending down, and it looks like that will continue. On Sunday, the FAA announced it’s lifting all restrictions on commercial flights that were imposed at 40 major airports across the country. This comes after the longest government shutdown in American history caused safety concerns for flying. Staffing shortages at air traffic control facilities worsened as controllers missed paychecks. The flight cuts started at 4% and grew to 6% before the FAA on Friday rolled back restrictions to 3%. But in *** statement, the FAA said an agency safety team. Recommended the order of limiting air traffic to be rescinded, and today we are seeing that play out. AAA predicts that 6 million Americans will fly domestically for the Thanksgiving travel period, which begins next Tuesday, and airline leaders do remain optimistic that flight operations will be back to normal by then. In Washington, I’m Rachel Herzheimer.
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Traveling for the holidays? See which major airports are the most and least on-time
About 6 million U.S. travelers are expected to fly domestically this Thanksgiving holiday, with Orlando, San Francisco and Honolulu among the top destinations, according to AAA.Travelers heading to Honolulu are in luck, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport had the best on-time performance in 2025 among the top 50 U.S. airports by passenger traffic, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Honolulu’s airport saw 87% of arrivals and 88% of departures leave on time from August 2024 to July 2025. That is based on the most recent data BTS provides for domestic flights and labels the period as 2025 data. From this time period, Daniel K. Inouye had a total of 25,300 flights. Salt Lake City International, St. Louis Lambert International and John Wayne Airport-Orange County had the next highest on-time arrival rates, each at 85%. Among the three, Salt Lake City had the most domestic flights with 115,000, while St. Louis Lambert and John Wayne had a combined 45,800. The lowest on-time arrival rates were at Ronald Reagan Washington National and Newark Liberty International, with both at 72%. Between August 2024 and July 2025, Reagan operated 141,800 flights and Newark operated 122,600. Philadelphia International had the second-lowest on-time arrival rate at 74% with 99,600 flights. Three airports were behind Honolulu for on-time departures: Portland International, Kansas City International and Indianapolis International. All had an on-time departure rate of 86%. Dallas-Fort Worth International had the lowest on-time departure rate of 71% with 318,100 flights. Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall had a slightly higher on-time departure rate of 73%, but far fewer flights — 97,000 compared to Dallas-Fort Worth.Still, Dallas-Fort Worth was not the busiest airport in the country. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International had 326,600 flights, with an on-time departure rate of 77% and 81% for arrivals. PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
About 6 million U.S. travelers are expected to fly domestically this Thanksgiving holiday, with Orlando, San Francisco and Honolulu among the top destinations, according to AAA.
Travelers heading to Honolulu are in luck, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport had the best on-time performance in 2025 among the top 50 U.S. airports by passenger traffic, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
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Honolulu’s airport saw 87% of arrivals and 88% of departures leave on time from August 2024 to July 2025. That is based on the most recent data BTS provides for domestic flights and labels the period as 2025 data. From this time period, Daniel K. Inouye had a total of 25,300 flights.
Salt Lake City International, St. Louis Lambert International and John Wayne Airport-Orange County had the next highest on-time arrival rates, each at 85%. Among the three, Salt Lake City had the most domestic flights with 115,000, while St. Louis Lambert and John Wayne had a combined 45,800.
The lowest on-time arrival rates were at Ronald Reagan Washington National and Newark Liberty International, with both at 72%. Between August 2024 and July 2025, Reagan operated 141,800 flights and Newark operated 122,600. Philadelphia International had the second-lowest on-time arrival rate at 74% with 99,600 flights.
Three airports were behind Honolulu for on-time departures: Portland International, Kansas City International and Indianapolis International. All had an on-time departure rate of 86%.
Dallas-Fort Worth International had the lowest on-time departure rate of 71% with 318,100 flights.
Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall had a slightly higher on-time departure rate of 73%, but far fewer flights — 97,000 compared to Dallas-Fort Worth.
Still, Dallas-Fort Worth was not the busiest airport in the country. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International had 326,600 flights, with an on-time departure rate of 77% and 81% for arrivals.
