San Francisco International in August 2024

78.1%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 August 2024, reporting carriers scheduled 12,036 domestic departures from San Francisco International (SFO). 78.1% left less than 15 minutes late and 78.2% reached their destination on time; 0.9% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 75.4% of flights departed on time and 74.7% arrived on time, so SFO departures were 2.7 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in August 2023, the airport had 12,185 departures with 79.4% leaving on time: a change of −1.3 points, with flights down 1%.

Flights arriving at SFO that month were on time 75.3% of the time (12,041 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 42%, air carrier 36% and national aviation system 20%.

On time 78.2%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 20.5%
Cancelled 0.9%
Diverted 0.3%

Every scheduled departure from SFO in August 2024, judged by arrival at the destination.

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

Measure	Aug 2024	Aug 2023	SFO, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Aug 2024
Departed on time	78.1%	79.4%	75.1%	75.4%
Arrived on time	78.2%	80.4%	75.6%	74.7%
Cancelled	0.9%	1.1%	1.0%	2.1%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	15.3 min	14.2 min	17.8 min	18.4 min
Scheduled departures a day	401	406	404	20,634
Scheduled departures	12,036	12,185	147,566	619,025

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	4,512	37%	80.4%	3.3 min	1.0%
OO SkyWest Airlines	2,587	21%	81.4%	3.3 min	0.3%
DL Delta Air Lines	1,215	10%	81.2%	4.1 min	0.2%
AS Alaska Airlines	1,132	9%	71.2%	8.9 min	1.3%
AA American Airlines	1,042	9%	77.4%	11.6 min	1.8%
WN Southwest Airlines	681	6%	73.7%	10.0 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	455	4%	66.8%	15.3 min	2.0%
B6 JetBlue Airways	350	3%	66.0%	25.0 min	2.6%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	62	1%	74.2%	9.7 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SFO–LAX	San Francisco to Los Angeles	1,005	82.8%	1.2 min	0.3%
SFO–SEA	San Francisco to Seattle	628	68.0%	12.2 min	1.9%
SFO–JFK	San Francisco to New York	581	72.3%	13.5 min	2.2%
SFO–SAN	San Francisco to San Diego	568	73.8%	9.0 min	0.4%
SFO–ORD	San Francisco to Chicago	501	78.0%	4.6 min	0.2%
SFO–LAS	San Francisco to Las Vegas	492	73.8%	10.0 min	0.8%
SFO–DEN	San Francisco to Denver	481	76.7%	5.2 min	0.4%
SFO–BOS	San Francisco to Boston	425	69.9%	11.7 min	0.9%
SFO–PHX	San Francisco to Phoenix	381	77.2%	17.6 min	1.0%
SFO–SNA	San Francisco to Santa Ana	378	88.1%	-0.9 min	0.3%
SFO–DFW	San Francisco to Dallas/Fort Worth	373	72.7%	12.4 min	1.1%
SFO–PDX	San Francisco to Portland	351	80.9%	2.3 min	0.3%

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), August 2024.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Aug 2024	Minutes
Air carrier	35.8%	33.8%	57,302
Late-arriving aircraft	41.6%	39.8%	66,508
National Aviation System	19.7%	20.4%	31,570
Extreme weather	2.7%	5.9%	4,374
Security	0.1%	0.1%	177

159,931 delay minutes on 2,472 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 SFO on time in August 2024?

78.1% of 12,036 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 78.2% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 75.4% and 74.7%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In August 2023, 79.4% of 12,185 departures left on time and 1.1% were cancelled, against 78.1% and 0.9% in August 2024.

Provenance

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