San Francisco International in October 2024

83.6%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 October 2024, reporting carriers scheduled 12,568 domestic departures from San Francisco International (SFO). 83.6% left less than 15 minutes late and 83.5% reached their destination on time; 0.3% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 85.5% of flights departed on time and 85.8% arrived on time, so SFO departures were 1.9 points below the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in October 2023, the airport had 11,784 departures with 84.8% leaving on time: a change of −1.2 points, with flights up 7%.

Flights arriving at SFO that month were on time 81.5% of the time (12,566 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 41%, air carrier 38% and national aviation system 17%.

On time 83.5%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 16.0%
Cancelled 0.3%
Diverted 0.2%

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

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

Measure	Oct 2024	Oct 2023	SFO, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Oct 2024
Departed on time	83.6%	84.8%	75.1%	85.5%
Arrived on time	83.5%	85.3%	75.6%	85.8%
Cancelled	0.3%	0.3%	1.0%	1.0%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	11.3 min	10.1 min	17.8 min	9.4 min
Scheduled departures a day	419	393	404	20,517
Scheduled departures	12,568	11,784	147,566	615,497

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	5,049	40%	87.1%	-2.1 min	0.4%
OO SkyWest Airlines	2,856	23%	79.6%	6.9 min	0.2%
DL Delta Air Lines	1,147	9%	91.4%	-7.2 min	0.0%
AA American Airlines	1,027	8%	82.9%	4.0 min	0.1%
AS Alaska Airlines	941	7%	80.7%	0.1 min	0.4%
WN Southwest Airlines	671	5%	73.0%	8.3 min	0.1%
F9 Frontier Airlines	467	4%	64.9%	23.9 min	1.5%
B6 JetBlue Airways	348	3%	90.5%	-9.0 min	0.0%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	62	0%	87.1%	-5.5 min	1.6%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SFO–LAX	San Francisco to Los Angeles	1,063	83.7%	3.3 min	0.0%
SFO–SEA	San Francisco to Seattle	609	83.1%	-5.2 min	0.8%
SFO–SAN	San Francisco to San Diego	578	64.9%	17.2 min	1.2%
SFO–LAS	San Francisco to Las Vegas	574	73.3%	10.2 min	0.3%
SFO–JFK	San Francisco to New York	537	88.8%	-7.2 min	0.0%
SFO–DEN	San Francisco to Denver	495	82.8%	3.8 min	0.2%
SFO–ORD	San Francisco to Chicago	449	84.4%	-0.3 min	0.2%
SFO–PHX	San Francisco to Phoenix	433	83.8%	7.9 min	0.0%
SFO–BOS	San Francisco to Boston	427	88.8%	-5.9 min	0.0%
SFO–SNA	San Francisco to Santa Ana	427	81.3%	4.8 min	0.9%
SFO–DFW	San Francisco to Dallas/Fort Worth	370	85.1%	-1.2 min	0.0%
SFO–EWR	San Francisco to Newark	366	86.3%	-3.5 min	0.0%

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), October 2024.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Oct 2024	Minutes
Air carrier	38.1%	42.7%	47,350
Late-arriving aircraft	40.7%	37.4%	50,486
National Aviation System	16.9%	16.3%	20,929
Extreme weather	4.3%	3.4%	5,283
Security	0.1%	0.2%	85

124,133 delay minutes on 2,008 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 October 2024?

83.6% of 12,568 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 83.5% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 85.5% and 85.8%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In October 2023, 84.8% of 11,784 departures left on time and 0.3% were cancelled, against 83.6% and 0.3% in October 2024.

Provenance

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