San Francisco International in September 2024

83.1%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 September 2024, reporting carriers scheduled 11,767 domestic departures from San Francisco International (SFO). 83.1% left less than 15 minutes late and 81.7% reached their destination on time; 0.3% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 84.4% of flights departed on time and 83.9% arrived on time, so SFO departures were 1.3 points below the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in September 2023, the airport had 11,543 departures with 83.4% leaving on time: a change of −0.3 points, with flights up 2%.

Flights arriving at SFO that month were on time 80.2% of the time (11,773 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 41%, air carrier 34% and national aviation system 19%.

On time 81.7%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 17.7%
Cancelled 0.3%
Diverted 0.2%

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

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

Measure	Sep 2024	Sep 2023	SFO, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Sep 2024
Departed on time	83.1%	83.4%	75.1%	84.4%
Arrived on time	81.7%	82.6%	75.6%	83.9%
Cancelled	0.3%	0.6%	1.0%	0.6%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	11.8 min	12.1 min	17.8 min	10.6 min
Scheduled departures a day	392	385	404	19,421
Scheduled departures	11,767	11,543	147,566	582,622

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	4,490	38%	86.5%	-1.6 min	0.2%
OO SkyWest Airlines	2,809	24%	77.7%	8.3 min	0.3%
DL Delta Air Lines	1,125	10%	89.2%	-2.9 min	0.1%
AA American Airlines	937	8%	81.9%	8.2 min	0.2%
AS Alaska Airlines	865	7%	72.4%	5.3 min	1.2%
WN Southwest Airlines	672	6%	73.7%	9.7 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	455	4%	69.0%	19.1 min	1.1%
B6 JetBlue Airways	354	3%	82.8%	3.3 min	0.0%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	60	1%	86.7%	7.2 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SFO–LAX	San Francisco to Los Angeles	1,013	83.8%	1.6 min	0.1%
SFO–SEA	San Francisco to Seattle	617	74.2%	4.7 min	0.8%
SFO–SAN	San Francisco to San Diego	574	72.0%	9.4 min	0.3%
SFO–JFK	San Francisco to New York	547	84.8%	8.3 min	0.0%
SFO–LAS	San Francisco to Las Vegas	537	71.7%	12.9 min	0.7%
SFO–DEN	San Francisco to Denver	486	88.5%	-1.6 min	0.2%
SFO–ORD	San Francisco to Chicago	452	85.0%	2.9 min	0.2%
SFO–BOS	San Francisco to Boston	407	81.8%	2.4 min	0.2%
SFO–SNA	San Francisco to Santa Ana	403	78.7%	9.1 min	0.5%
SFO–PHX	San Francisco to Phoenix	372	83.6%	5.5 min	0.0%
SFO–DFW	San Francisco to Dallas/Fort Worth	331	82.2%	2.8 min	0.0%
SFO–EWR	San Francisco to Newark	330	80.6%	1.7 min	0.6%

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), September 2024.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Sep 2024	Minutes
Air carrier	34.3%	38.6%	43,998
Late-arriving aircraft	40.8%	38.4%	52,347
National Aviation System	19.3%	18.2%	24,706
Extreme weather	5.4%	4.8%	6,967
Security	0.1%	0.1%	140

128,158 delay minutes on 2,084 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 September 2024?

83.1% of 11,767 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 81.7% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 84.4% and 83.9%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In September 2023, 83.4% of 11,543 departures left on time and 0.6% were cancelled, against 83.1% and 0.3% in September 2024.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for September 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.