On-Time Report

Airports › San Francisco (SFO) › January 2026

Airport month · January 2026

San Francisco International in January 2026

79.6%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 January 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 11,113 domestic departures from San Francisco International (SFO). 79.6% left less than 15 minutes late and 80.2% reached their destination on time; 2.4% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 75.6% of flights departed on time and 75.3% arrived on time, so SFO departures were 4.0 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in January 2025, the airport had 10,839 departures with 85.5% leaving on time: a change of −5.9 points, with flights up 3%.

Flights arriving at SFO that month were on time 76.8% of the time (11,113 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 40%, air carrier 34% and national aviation system 20%.

Every scheduled departure from SFO in January 2026, judged by arrival at the destination.

January 2026 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation

MeasureJan 2026Jan 2025SFO, 12 months to Jul 2026All reported flights, Jan 2026
Departed on time79.6%85.5%75.1%75.6%
Arrived on time80.2%85.7%75.6%75.3%
Cancelled2.4%0.7%1.0%4.7%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)16.8 min10.6 min17.8 min16.7 min
Scheduled departures a day37036140418,133
Scheduled departures11,11310,839147,566544,003

Airlines that month

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
UA United Airlines4,56041%83.1%0.4 min1.3%
OO SkyWest Airlines2,62524%78.3%10.9 min2.6%
DL Delta Air Lines1,0259%83.1%-3.3 min2.4%
AA American Airlines8207%70.5%19.7 min8.8%
AS Alaska Airlines7847%80.4%1.4 min1.8%
WN Southwest Airlines7076%78.8%11.2 min1.3%
B6 JetBlue Airways3753%78.4%-0.2 min4.3%
F9 Frontier Airlines2172%74.7%11.7 min3.2%

Busiest routes that month

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
SFO–LAXSan Francisco to Los Angeles77485.0%1.9 min1.2%
SFO–JFKSan Francisco to New York53976.3%4.8 min5.8%
SFO–LASSan Francisco to Las Vegas52280.5%8.5 min0.2%
SFO–SANSan Francisco to San Diego50478.6%10.9 min1.4%
SFO–SEASan Francisco to Seattle48582.1%1.8 min1.9%
SFO–DENSan Francisco to Denver43587.1%1.2 min0.2%
SFO–SNASan Francisco to Santa Ana37786.2%-1.4 min1.6%
SFO–PHXSan Francisco to Phoenix37680.1%6.9 min1.9%
SFO–ORDSan Francisco to Chicago32972.3%6.4 min0.3%
SFO–EWRSan Francisco to Newark32672.7%7.0 min4.9%
SFO–BOSSan Francisco to Boston31377.3%1.8 min5.4%
SFO–DFWSan Francisco to Dallas/Fort Worth31166.6%29.4 min9.6%

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), January 2026.

Delay causes

BTS cause categoryShare of delay minutesNational, Jan 2026Minutes
Air carrier33.6%37.3%54,004
Late-arriving aircraft40.4%35.0%65,033
National Aviation System19.6%18.0%31,561
Extreme weather6.4%9.6%10,309
Security0.0%0.1%0
160,907 delay minutes on 1,897 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.
← December 2025February 2026 →

Questions and answers

How many flights left SFO on time in January 2026?

79.6% of 11,113 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 80.2% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 75.6% and 75.3%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In January 2025, 85.5% of 10,839 departures left on time and 0.7% were cancelled, against 79.6% and 2.4% in January 2026.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for January 2026; 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.