Tracking how many BNA flights left on time

Flying in December was truly just as bad as it seemed, federal data shows.

About 67% of domestic flights departed Nashville International Airport on time in December 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

• That's a drop of nearly 15 points from November 2022, per recently released data from the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The big picture: Nationally, just 69.1% of December's flights departed on time.

• That figure is generally between 75%-80% in a typical month, albeit with predictable dips in the busy — and often meteorologically challenging — summer and winter travel seasons.

Driving the news: The real story in December was, of course, Southwest Airlines' epic meltdown.

• 61.4% of Southwest flights departed Nashville on time in December.
• Just 57.3% of Southwest's December flights departed on time nationally, compared to 77.2% for Delta Air Lines, 72.5% for American Airlines and 70.7% for United Airlines.
• Southwest's struggles dragged down the average for all carriers reporting data to BTS.

Yes, but: All indications so far suggest Southwest has recovered nicely since December, though BTS' data reports lag by about three months.

• The airline has promised to update key systems that exacerbated December's meltdown, as well as better communicate with passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled.