Sacramento International in September 2024

85.4%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 2024, reporting carriers scheduled 4,870 domestic departures from Sacramento International (SMF). 85.4% left less than 15 minutes late and 85.1% reached their destination on time; 0.4% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 84.4% of flights departed on time and 83.9% arrived on time, so SMF departures were 1.0 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in September 2023, the airport had 4,422 departures with 83.9% leaving on time: a change of +1.5 points, with flights up 10%.

Flights arriving at SMF that month were on time 84.6% of the time (4,871 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 40%, air carrier 36% and national aviation system 20%.

On time 85.1%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 14.3%
Cancelled 0.4%
Diverted 0.2%

Every scheduled departure from SMF in September 2024, judged by arrival at the destination.

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

Measure	Sep 2024	Sep 2023	SMF, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Sep 2024
Departed on time	85.4%	83.9%	80.0%	84.4%
Arrived on time	85.1%	86.0%	81.4%	83.9%
Cancelled	0.4%	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	9.6 min	9.3 min	12.1 min	10.6 min
Scheduled departures a day	162	147	154	19,421
Scheduled departures	4,870	4,422	56,306	582,622

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
WN Southwest Airlines	2,587	53%	84.3%	0.8 min	0.3%
OO SkyWest Airlines	717	15%	86.3%	-2.9 min	0.0%
UA United Airlines	372	8%	92.2%	0.1 min	0.3%
DL Delta Air Lines	281	6%	92.2%	-6.0 min	0.0%
AA American Airlines	261	5%	83.9%	5.5 min	1.5%
NK Spirit Airlines	189	4%	77.2%	14.1 min	1.1%
AS Alaska Airlines	170	3%	80.6%	0.2 min	1.2%
F9 Frontier Airlines	143	3%	77.6%	0.4 min	1.4%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	90	2%	91.1%	-6.4 min	0.0%
B6 JetBlue Airways	33	1%	75.8%	49.1 min	0.0%
MQ Envoy Air	27	1%	85.2%	-0.8 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SMF–LAS	Sacramento to Las Vegas	479	82.0%	5.6 min	0.6%
SMF–SAN	Sacramento to San Diego	468	73.5%	7.4 min	0.0%
SMF–LAX	Sacramento to Los Angeles	456	91.7%	-6.5 min	0.2%
SMF–SEA	Sacramento to Seattle	414	78.0%	1.7 min	0.5%
SMF–DEN	Sacramento to Denver	354	90.7%	-1.4 min	0.0%
SMF–PHX	Sacramento to Phoenix	294	86.7%	2.5 min	0.0%
SMF–BUR	Sacramento to Burbank	270	78.5%	7.7 min	2.2%
SMF–ONT	Sacramento to Ontario	184	90.2%	-6.4 min	0.5%
SMF–SNA	Sacramento to Santa Ana	180	91.1%	-4.9 min	0.6%
SMF–SLC	Sacramento to Salt Lake City	169	89.9%	-6.7 min	0.6%
SMF–LGB	Sacramento to Long Beach	158	89.2%	-4.6 min	0.0%
SMF–PDX	Sacramento to Portland	145	82.8%	1.2 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 2024.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Sep 2024	Minutes
Air carrier	36.4%	38.6%	14,485
Late-arriving aircraft	39.7%	38.4%	15,792
National Aviation System	19.7%	18.2%	7,837
Extreme weather	4.1%	4.8%	1,635
Security	0.0%	0.1%	14

39,763 delay minutes on 695 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 SMF on time in September 2024?

85.4% of 4,870 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 85.1% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 84.4% and 83.9%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In September 2023, 83.9% of 4,422 departures left on time and 0.4% were cancelled, against 85.4% and 0.4% in September 2024.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, file for September 2024; public domain. Domestic scheduled flights by reporting carriers, totals and averages only. The site's data runs through July 2026. Full record for SMF · methodology · corrections.