Airports › Sacramento (SMF) › May 2026
Airport month · May 2026
Sacramento International in May 2026
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 4,945 domestic departures from Sacramento International (SMF). 79.1% left less than 15 minutes late and 81.4% reached their destination on time; 0.4% were cancelled.
Nationally that month, 77.1% of flights departed on time and 77.6% arrived on time, so SMF departures were 2.0 points above the national departure figure.
A year earlier, in May 2025, the airport had 5,191 departures with 82.2% leaving on time: a change of −3.1 points, with flights down 5%.
Flights arriving at SMF that month were on time 79.0% of the time (4,943 scheduled arrivals).
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category that month, late-arriving aircraft 49%, air carrier 32% and national aviation system 18%.
- On time 81.4%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 18.1%
- Cancelled 0.4%
- Diverted 0.1%
May 2026 against a year earlier, the airport's year and the nation
| Measure | May 2026 | May 2025 | SMF, 12 months to Jul 2026 | All reported flights, May 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Departed on time | 79.1% | 82.2% | 80.0% | 77.1% |
| Arrived on time | 81.4% | 83.1% | 81.4% | 77.6% |
| Cancelled | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.9% |
| Average departure delay (late minutes only) | 12.5 min | 10.5 min | 12.1 min | 16.0 min |
| Scheduled departures a day | 165 | 173 | 154 | 20,391 |
| Scheduled departures | 4,945 | 5,191 | 56,306 | 611,735 |
Airlines that month
| Reporting carrier | Flights | Share | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WN Southwest Airlines | 2,719 | 55% | 77.9% | 4.3 min | 0.2% |
| OO SkyWest Airlines | 776 | 16% | 82.0% | 5.3 min | 0.4% |
| UA United Airlines | 423 | 9% | 90.5% | -5.6 min | 0.7% |
| DL Delta Air Lines | 316 | 6% | 92.4% | -6.5 min | 0.3% |
| AA American Airlines | 299 | 6% | 82.3% | 7.3 min | 1.3% |
| AS Alaska Airlines | 280 | 6% | 88.6% | -0.3 min | 0.4% |
| F9 Frontier Airlines | 76 | 2% | 73.7% | 8.1 min | 1.3% |
| MQ Envoy Air | 38 | 1% | 89.5% | -5.7 min | 0.0% |
| B6 JetBlue Airways | 18 | 0% | 72.2% | 64.7 min | 0.0% |
Busiest routes that month
| Route | Cities | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMF–LAX | Sacramento to Los Angeles | 525 | 85.0% | 4.3 min | 0.0% |
| SMF–SAN | Sacramento to San Diego | 466 | 68.7% | 11.2 min | 0.6% |
| SMF–SEA | Sacramento to Seattle | 389 | 85.6% | -3.7 min | 0.0% |
| SMF–PHX | Sacramento to Phoenix | 341 | 81.8% | 2.8 min | 0.3% |
| SMF–LAS | Sacramento to Las Vegas | 333 | 77.2% | 5.6 min | 0.6% |
| SMF–DEN | Sacramento to Denver | 321 | 85.4% | 0.5 min | 0.3% |
| SMF–BUR | Sacramento to Burbank | 225 | 79.6% | -0.4 min | 0.4% |
| SMF–SLC | Sacramento to Salt Lake City | 200 | 85.0% | 0.3 min | 0.5% |
| SMF–SNA | Sacramento to Santa Ana | 192 | 82.3% | 1.2 min | 0.0% |
| SMF–ONT | Sacramento to Ontario | 187 | 82.9% | 2.8 min | 0.5% |
| SMF–PDX | Sacramento to Portland | 167 | 87.4% | 1.8 min | 0.0% |
| SMF–ORD | Sacramento to Chicago | 152 | 85.5% | 4.1 min | 0.7% |
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Questions and answers
How many flights left SMF on time in May 2026?
79.1% of 4,945 scheduled domestic departures left less than 15 minutes late, and 81.4% 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, 82.2% of 5,191 departures left on time and 0.4% were cancelled, against 79.1% and 0.4% 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 SMF · methodology · corrections.