Sacramento International in December 2024

77.3%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 December 2024, reporting carriers scheduled 4,534 domestic departures from Sacramento International (SMF). 77.3% left less than 15 minutes late and 80.1% reached their destination on time; 0.9% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 77.8% of flights departed on time and 78.1% arrived on time, so SMF departures were 0.5 points below the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in December 2023, the airport had 4,521 departures with 87.0% leaving on time: a change of −9.7 points, with flights up 0%.

Flights arriving at SMF that month were on time 79.0% of the time (4,529 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, air carrier 41%, late-arriving aircraft 39% and national aviation system 14%.

On time 80.1%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 18.6%
Cancelled 0.9%
Diverted 0.4%

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

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

Measure	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	SMF, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, Dec 2024
Departed on time	77.3%	87.0%	80.0%	77.8%
Arrived on time	80.1%	87.9%	81.4%	78.1%
Cancelled	0.9%	0.2%	0.7%	0.7%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	16.4 min	7.6 min	12.1 min	16.6 min
Scheduled departures a day	151	151	154	19,686
Scheduled departures	4,534	4,521	56,306	590,581

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
WN Southwest Airlines	2,569	57%	77.2%	8.5 min	1.0%
OO SkyWest Airlines	720	16%	79.6%	2.1 min	0.7%
UA United Airlines	325	7%	89.2%	-3.7 min	0.3%
AA American Airlines	293	6%	80.9%	21.9 min	1.7%
DL Delta Air Lines	274	6%	90.1%	-0.8 min	0.0%
NK Spirit Airlines	105	2%	92.4%	-0.7 min	1.0%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	93	2%	75.3%	26.8 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	90	2%	88.9%	-3.4 min	2.2%
MQ Envoy Air	34	1%	94.1%	-8.6 min	0.0%
AS Alaska Airlines	31	1%	77.4%	1.3 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SMF–SAN	Sacramento to San Diego	442	69.5%	18.0 min	4.1%
SMF–LAS	Sacramento to Las Vegas	436	83.3%	3.4 min	0.7%
SMF–LAX	Sacramento to Los Angeles	426	82.2%	1.4 min	0.2%
SMF–DEN	Sacramento to Denver	330	81.5%	0.5 min	0.0%
SMF–PHX	Sacramento to Phoenix	322	86.3%	4.1 min	0.0%
SMF–SEA	Sacramento to Seattle	252	82.9%	-3.6 min	0.4%
SMF–BUR	Sacramento to Burbank	216	72.2%	14.2 min	1.4%
SMF–SNA	Sacramento to Santa Ana	199	83.9%	3.1 min	1.0%
SMF–LGB	Sacramento to Long Beach	183	82.0%	4.8 min	1.6%
SMF–ONT	Sacramento to Ontario	167	84.4%	2.4 min	0.0%
SMF–SLC	Sacramento to Salt Lake City	165	86.7%	-1.3 min	0.0%
SMF–PDX	Sacramento to Portland	160	85.6%	0.6 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), December 2024.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, Dec 2024	Minutes
Air carrier	41.0%	34.3%	25,743
Late-arriving aircraft	38.7%	40.2%	24,345
National Aviation System	14.2%	17.8%	8,907
Extreme weather	6.0%	7.5%	3,779
Security	0.1%	0.2%	69

62,843 delay minutes on 844 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 December 2024?

77.3% of 4,534 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 80.1% 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, 87.0% of 4,521 departures left on time and 0.2% were cancelled, against 77.3% and 0.9% 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 SMF · methodology · corrections.