Sacramento International in May 2025

82.2%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 May 2025, reporting carriers scheduled 5,191 domestic departures from Sacramento International (SMF). 82.2% left less than 15 minutes late and 83.1% reached their destination on time; 0.4% were cancelled.

Nationally that month, 76.7% of flights departed on time and 75.4% arrived on time, so SMF departures were 5.5 points above the national departure figure.

A year earlier, in May 2024, the airport had 4,630 departures with 79.5% leaving on time: a change of +2.7 points, with flights up 12%.

Flights arriving at SMF that month were on time 80.6% of the time (5,192 scheduled arrivals).

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 47%, air carrier 27% and national aviation system 24%.

On time 83.1%
Arrived 15+ minutes late 16.4%
Cancelled 0.4%
Diverted 0.1%

Every scheduled departure from SMF in May 2025, judged by arrival at the destination.

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

Measure	May 2025	May 2024	SMF, 12 months to Jul 2026	All reported flights, May 2025
Departed on time	82.2%	79.5%	80.0%	76.7%
Arrived on time	83.1%	81.3%	81.4%	75.4%
Cancelled	0.4%	0.6%	0.7%	1.0%
Average departure delay (late minutes only)	10.5 min	13.9 min	12.1 min	17.5 min
Scheduled departures a day	173	154	154	20,188
Scheduled departures	5,191	4,630	56,306	605,648

Airlines that month

Reporting carrier	Flights	Share	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
WN Southwest Airlines	2,826	54%	82.2%	3.3 min	0.3%
OO SkyWest Airlines	904	17%	87.8%	-3.3 min	0.1%
UA United Airlines	370	7%	82.2%	6.1 min	0.3%
AA American Airlines	365	7%	76.4%	7.1 min	1.4%
DL Delta Air Lines	328	6%	89.6%	-5.0 min	0.6%
AS Alaska Airlines	126	2%	76.2%	7.4 min	0.0%
HA Hawaiian Airlines	93	2%	90.3%	-1.5 min	0.0%
NK Spirit Airlines	84	2%	82.1%	2.7 min	0.0%
B6 JetBlue Airways	62	1%	74.2%	8.8 min	0.0%
F9 Frontier Airlines	30	1%	80.0%	-2.1 min	6.7%
MQ Envoy Air	3	0%	66.7%	21.3 min	0.0%

Busiest routes that month

Route	Cities	Flights	On time	Avg arrival delay	Cancelled
SMF–LAX	Sacramento to Los Angeles	497	89.9%	-5.4 min	0.0%
SMF–LAS	Sacramento to Las Vegas	492	83.7%	3.1 min	0.4%
SMF–SAN	Sacramento to San Diego	443	81.0%	6.4 min	0.2%
SMF–SEA	Sacramento to Seattle	380	77.6%	2.5 min	0.0%
SMF–PHX	Sacramento to Phoenix	352	80.4%	5.9 min	0.6%
SMF–DEN	Sacramento to Denver	340	73.8%	14.7 min	0.3%
SMF–BUR	Sacramento to Burbank	248	82.7%	1.2 min	0.0%
SMF–ONT	Sacramento to Ontario	185	87.0%	-0.6 min	0.0%
SMF–SNA	Sacramento to Santa Ana	185	88.1%	-2.7 min	0.0%
SMF–LGB	Sacramento to Long Beach	172	88.4%	-3.7 min	0.0%
SMF–PDX	Sacramento to Portland	167	88.0%	-1.8 min	0.6%
SMF–SLC	Sacramento to Salt Lake City	166	88.0%	-3.2 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), May 2025.

Delay causes

BTS cause category	Share of delay minutes	National, May 2025	Minutes
Air carrier	26.9%	29.3%	12,366
Late-arriving aircraft	46.5%	37.8%	21,391
National Aviation System	24.4%	25.9%	11,242
Extreme weather	2.2%	6.9%	1,002
Security	0.1%	0.1%	40

46,041 delay minutes on 851 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 May 2025?

82.2% of 5,191 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 83.1% reached their destination on time. The national figures that month were 76.7% and 75.4%.

How does that compare with a year earlier?

In May 2024, 79.5% of 4,630 departures left on time and 0.6% were cancelled, against 82.2% and 0.4% in May 2025.

Provenance

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