San Francisco International in September 2025

84.2%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 2025, reporting carriers scheduled 11,830 domestic departures from San Francisco International (SFO). 84.2% left less than 15 minutes late and 82.0% reached their destination on time; 0.3% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 83.1% of flights departed on time and 82.8% arrived on time, so SFO departures were 1.1 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in September 2024, the airport had 11,767 departures with 83.1% leaving on time: a change of +1.1 points, with flights up 1%.

Flights arriving at SFO that month were on time 78.3% of the time (11,829 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 42%, national aviation system 28% and air carrier 27%.

On time 82.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 17.5%
Cancelled 0.3%
Diverted 0.3%

Every scheduled departure from SFO in September 2025, judged by arrival at the destination.

September 2025 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

Measure	Sep 2025	Sep 2024	SFO, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Sep 2025
Departed on time	84.2%	83.1%	75.1%	83.1%
Arrived on time	82.0%	81.7%	75.6%	82.8%
Cancelled	0.3%	0.3%	1.0%	0.5%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	10.8 min	11.8 min	17.8 min	12.2 min
Scheduled departures a day	394	392	404	18,748
Scheduled departures	11,830	11,767	147,566	562,439

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	4,886	41%	85.0%	0.0 min	0.2%
OO SkyWest Airlines	2,563	22%	83.8%	1.6 min	0.2%
DL Delta Air Lines	1,141	10%	82.4%	2.5 min	0.0%
AA American Airlines	973	8%	83.2%	4.7 min	0.6%
AS Alaska Airlines	814	7%	80.8%	-2.1 min	0.7%
WN Southwest Airlines	741	6%	58.2%	18.3 min	0.4%
B6 JetBlue Airways	370	3%	85.4%	-3.2 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	261	2%	65.9%	24.3 min	0.8%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	81	1%	92.6%	-5.8 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SFO–LAX	San Francisco to Los Angeles	916	78.4%	6.0 min	0.2%
SFO–SEA	San Francisco to Seattle	585	77.4%	1.1 min	0.5%
SFO–SAN	San Francisco to San Diego	582	72.9%	7.8 min	1.4%
SFO–JFK	San Francisco to New York	579	85.3%	-4.2 min	0.3%
SFO–LAS	San Francisco to Las Vegas	512	77.5%	9.7 min	0.4%
SFO–ORD	San Francisco to Chicago	486	84.0%	2.2 min	0.0%
SFO–DEN	San Francisco to Denver	450	74.0%	9.0 min	0.0%
SFO–SNA	San Francisco to Santa Ana	436	88.3%	-3.8 min	0.0%
SFO–BOS	San Francisco to Boston	408	72.1%	14.3 min	0.0%
SFO–EWR	San Francisco to Newark	357	76.5%	8.6 min	0.6%
SFO–PHX	San Francisco to Phoenix	342	75.7%	5.1 min	1.2%
SFO–PDX	San Francisco to Portland	328	87.2%	-1.0 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), September 2025.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Sep 2025	Minutes
Air carrier	27.0%	34.3%	32,437
Late-arriving aircraft	41.6%	37.4%	49,877
National Aviation System	27.5%	22.6%	32,974
Extreme weather	3.8%	5.6%	4,605
Security	0.1%	0.1%	87

119,980 delay minutes on 2,067 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 2025?

84.2% of 11,830 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 82.0% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 83.1% and 82.8%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In September 2024, 83.1% of 11,767 departures left on time and 0.3% were cancelled, against 84.2% and 0.3% in September 2025.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for September 2025; 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.