San Francisco International in May 2026

67.7%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 May 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 13,114 domestic departures from San Francisco International (SFO). 67.7% left less than 15 minutes late and 69.3% reached their destination on time; 0.8% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 77.1% of flights departed on time and 77.6% arrived on time, so SFO departures were 9.4 points below the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in May 2025, the airport had 12,885 departures with 82.1% leaving on time: a change of −14.4 points, with flights up 2%.

Flights arriving at SFO that month were on time 53.3% of the time (13,147 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 52%, air carrier 24% and national aviation system 23%.

On time 69.3%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 29.6%
Cancelled 0.8%
Diverted 0.3%

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

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

Measure	May 2026	May 2025	SFO, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, May 2026
Departed on time	67.7%	82.1%	75.1%	77.1%
Arrived on time	69.3%	78.3%	75.6%	77.6%
Cancelled	0.8%	0.4%	1.0%	0.9%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	21.8 min	12.9 min	17.8 min	16.0 min
Scheduled departures a day	437	430	404	20,391
Scheduled departures	13,114	12,885	147,566	611,735

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
UA United Airlines	5,657	43%	75.7%	4.1 min	0.3%
OO SkyWest Airlines	2,518	19%	64.8%	17.4 min	1.4%
DL Delta Air Lines	1,235	9%	67.4%	13.7 min	1.3%
AA American Airlines	1,087	8%	70.7%	14.9 min	1.5%
AS Alaska Airlines	1,010	8%	68.2%	8.9 min	0.7%
WN Southwest Airlines	858	7%	43.9%	36.2 min	0.9%
B6 JetBlue Airways	388	3%	78.1%	4.4 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	361	3%	57.1%	26.7 min	1.7%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SFO–LAX	San Francisco to Los Angeles	1,028	64.3%	15.5 min	1.5%
SFO–SEA	San Francisco to Seattle	594	61.6%	13.4 min	0.8%
SFO–JFK	San Francisco to New York	593	74.7%	8.6 min	0.7%
SFO–ORD	San Francisco to Chicago	559	72.6%	11.7 min	0.2%
SFO–LAS	San Francisco to Las Vegas	535	60.4%	24.9 min	0.6%
SFO–SAN	San Francisco to San Diego	529	55.2%	24.7 min	1.1%
SFO–DEN	San Francisco to Denver	483	71.2%	6.6 min	0.0%
SFO–BOS	San Francisco to Boston	439	75.4%	4.6 min	0.0%
SFO–PHX	San Francisco to Phoenix	417	68.3%	19.2 min	0.2%
SFO–EWR	San Francisco to Newark	404	81.4%	-2.8 min	1.0%
SFO–DFW	San Francisco to Dallas/Fort Worth	400	64.3%	12.0 min	3.5%
SFO–SNA	San Francisco to Santa Ana	400	64.0%	12.4 min	2.0%

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), May 2026.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, May 2026	Minutes
Air carrier	24.3%	33.0%	60,180
Late-arriving aircraft	51.5%	40.4%	127,804
National Aviation System	23.0%	20.5%	57,016
Extreme weather	1.1%	6.0%	2,766
Security	0.1%	0.1%	175

247,941 delay minutes on 3,883 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 May 2026?

67.7% of 13,114 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 69.3% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 77.1% and 77.6%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In May 2025, 82.1% of 12,885 departures left on time and 0.4% were cancelled, against 67.7% and 0.8% in May 2026.

Provenance

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