Airports › San Francisco (SFO) › December 2024
Airport month · December 2024
San Francisco International in December 2024
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 12,097 domestic departures from San Francisco International (SFO). 76.9% left less than 15 minutes late and 77.3% reached their destination on time; 0.7% were cancelled.
Nationally that month, 77.8% of flights departed on time and 78.1% arrived on time, so SFO departures were 0.9 points below the national departure figure.
A year earlier, in December 2023, the airport had 11,036 departures with 80.4% leaving on time: a change of −3.5 points, with flights up 10%.
Flights arriving at SFO that month were on time 74.0% of the time (12,107 scheduled arrivals).
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 43%, air carrier 30% and national aviation system 19%.
- On time 77.3%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 21.7%
- Cancelled 0.7%
- Diverted 0.3%
December 2024 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation
| Measure | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | SFO, 12 months to Jul 2026 | All reported flights, Dec 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Departed on time | 76.9% | 80.4% | 75.1% | 77.8% |
| Arrived on time | 77.3% | 78.7% | 75.6% | 78.1% |
| Cancelled | 0.7% | 0.2% | 1.0% | 0.7% |
| Average departure delay (late minutes only) | 16.9 min | 14.9 min | 17.8 min | 16.6 min |
| Scheduled departures a day | 403 | 368 | 404 | 19,686 |
| Scheduled departures | 12,097 | 11,036 | 147,566 | 590,581 |
Airlines that month
| Reporting carrier | Flights | Share | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UA United Airlines | 4,584 | 38% | 79.8% | 3.3 min | 0.4% |
| OO SkyWest Airlines | 3,011 | 25% | 74.2% | 11.1 min | 1.6% |
| DL Delta Air Lines | 1,028 | 8% | 83.5% | 1.3 min | 0.0% |
| AS Alaska Airlines | 1,024 | 8% | 75.2% | 7.1 min | 0.4% |
| AA American Airlines | 925 | 8% | 79.2% | 8.9 min | 0.9% |
| WN Southwest Airlines | 646 | 5% | 69.3% | 14.4 min | 0.8% |
| F9 Frontier Airlines | 430 | 4% | 69.5% | 19.3 min | 0.5% |
| B6 JetBlue Airways | 370 | 3% | 78.4% | 7.7 min | 0.0% |
| HA Hawaiian Airlines | 79 | 1% | 74.7% | 8.3 min | 3.8% |
Busiest routes that month
| Route | Cities | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO–LAX | San Francisco to Los Angeles | 972 | 76.3% | 6.3 min | 0.0% |
| SFO–SAN | San Francisco to San Diego | 595 | 65.4% | 18.9 min | 2.5% |
| SFO–JFK | San Francisco to New York | 551 | 81.5% | 3.7 min | 0.2% |
| SFO–SEA | San Francisco to Seattle | 533 | 76.0% | 7.4 min | 0.4% |
| SFO–LAS | San Francisco to Las Vegas | 532 | 74.4% | 8.2 min | 0.4% |
| SFO–DEN | San Francisco to Denver | 506 | 80.2% | 5.3 min | 0.2% |
| SFO–PHX | San Francisco to Phoenix | 433 | 76.7% | 11.0 min | 0.0% |
| SFO–ORD | San Francisco to Chicago | 399 | 81.7% | 1.0 min | 0.5% |
| SFO–BOS | San Francisco to Boston | 375 | 76.8% | 8.6 min | 0.5% |
| SFO–EWR | San Francisco to Newark | 374 | 73.3% | 5.9 min | 0.5% |
| SFO–SNA | San Francisco to Santa Ana | 355 | 78.9% | 4.8 min | 1.4% |
| SFO–PDX | San Francisco to Portland | 333 | 79.6% | 6.3 min | 0.3% |
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Questions and answers
How many flights left SFO on time in December 2024?
76.9% of 12,097 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 77.3% 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, 80.4% of 11,036 departures left on time and 0.2% were cancelled, against 76.9% and 0.7% 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 SFO · methodology · corrections.