San Diego International in December 2024

71.1%departed on time

BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report.

In December 2024, reporting carriers scheduled 8,075 domestic departures from San Diego International (SAN). 71.1% left less than 15 minutes late and 68.0% reached their destination on time; 2.6% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 77.8% of flights departed on time and 78.1% arrived on time, so SAN departures were 6.7 points below the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in December 2023, the airport had 7,848 departures with 86.0% leaving on time: a change of −14.9 points, with flights up 3%.

Flights arriving at SAN that month were on time 69.4% of the time (8,077 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 50%, national aviation system 19% and air carrier 19%.

On time 68.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 29.4%
Cancelled 2.6%
Diverted 0.1%

Every scheduled departure from SAN in December 2024, judged by arrival at the destination.

December 2024 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	SAN, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Dec 2024
Departed on time	71.1%	86.0%	73.5%	77.8%
Arrived on time	68.0%	85.2%	76.1%	78.1%
Cancelled	2.6%	0.3%	1.3%	0.7%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	25.7 min	8.8 min	16.6 min	16.6 min
Scheduled departures a day	269	262	275	19,686
Scheduled departures	8,075	7,848	100,196	590,581

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
WN Southwest Airlines	2,835	35%	66.8%	19.7 min	3.6%
OO SkyWest Airlines	1,160	14%	58.8%	23.2 min	4.1%
AS Alaska Airlines	956	12%	65.7%	19.5 min	1.7%
UA United Airlines	880	11%	74.7%	19.5 min	1.0%
DL Delta Air Lines	819	10%	74.6%	23.6 min	0.5%
AA American Airlines	805	10%	74.0%	21.4 min	1.6%
F9 Frontier Airlines	232	3%	67.7%	25.7 min	2.6%
NK Spirit Airlines	185	2%	74.1%	13.5 min	2.2%
B6 JetBlue Airways	133	2%	59.4%	41.7 min	1.5%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	62	1%	67.7%	19.7 min	1.6%
G4 Allegiant Air	8	0%	37.5%	95.4 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SAN–SFO	San Diego to San Francisco	595	61.5%	25.4 min	2.2%
SAN–LAS	San Diego to Las Vegas	585	67.4%	18.5 min	3.1%
SAN–SJC	San Diego to San Jose	471	66.0%	21.2 min	4.0%
SAN–PHX	San Diego to Phoenix	455	72.7%	13.6 min	4.2%
SAN–DEN	San Diego to Denver	451	75.2%	11.5 min	2.4%
SAN–SMF	San Diego to Sacramento	443	67.0%	19.9 min	2.9%
SAN–SEA	San Diego to Seattle	391	74.9%	16.0 min	1.5%
SAN–OAK	San Diego to Oakland	292	71.2%	13.2 min	4.1%
SAN–DFW	San Diego to Dallas/Fort Worth	276	64.9%	31.5 min	2.5%
SAN–SLC	San Diego to Salt Lake City	229	79.0%	20.9 min	0.9%
SAN–ORD	San Diego to Chicago	228	81.6%	16.5 min	0.9%
SAN–JFK	San Diego to New York	212	66.0%	26.2 min	0.5%

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over

Share of departures that left less than 15 minutes late, by scheduled hour (local time), December 2024.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Dec 2024	Minutes
Air carrier	18.9%	34.3%	39,725
Late-arriving aircraft	49.6%	40.2%	104,089
National Aviation System	19.4%	17.8%	40,665
Extreme weather	11.9%	7.5%	24,936
Security	0.1%	0.2%	282

209,697 delay minutes on 2,372 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Questions and answers

How many flights left SAN on time in December 2024?

71.1% of 8,075 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 68.0% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 77.8% and 78.1%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In December 2023, 86.0% of 7,848 departures left on time and 0.3% were cancelled, against 71.1% and 2.6% in December 2024.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for December 2024; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for SAN · methodology · corrections.