On-Time Report

Routes › San Francisco (SFO) › SFO to PDX

Route · 12 months to July 2026

San Francisco to Portland: on-time record

San Francisco International to Portland International

79.4%arrived 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. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.

79.4% of scheduled SFO to PDX flights arrived on time in the 12 months to July 2026. The figure covers 3,493 flights between San Francisco and Portland by carriers that report to BTS, a distance of 550 miles.

That is 3.4 points above the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 3.8 points above the 75.6% recorded for all departures from SFO. Flights that did arrive were 4.4 min late on average, and 0.3% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

3 reporting carriers flew the route at least 60 times. United Airlines had the highest on-time share at 80.4% of 1,716 flights; SkyWest Airlines had the lowest at 78.1% of 392.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at SFO), flights leaving from 7 am to 8 am had the highest on-time share, 94.6%; those leaving from 3 pm to 4 pm had the lowest, 70.6%.

The on-time share is down 3.0 points on the previous 12 months (82.4%); cancellations moved from 0.3% to 0.3%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 60%, air carrier 30% and national aviation system 10%.

79.4%arrived on timenational 76.0%
4.4 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
0.3%cancellednational 1.8%
291flights a month3,493 in 12 months · 550 miles
Every scheduled SFO to PDX flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
UA United Airlines1,71649%80.4%5.0 min0.2%
AS Alaska Airlines1,37939%78.5%3.9 min0.5%
OO SkyWest Airlines39211%78.1%3.2 min0.3%

Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.

Compared with the airports and the nation

MeasureSFO to PDXAll departures from SFOAll arrivals at PDXAll reported flights
Arrived on time79.4%75.6%80.4%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late20.3%23.1%18.7%21.9%
Cancelled0.3%1.0%0.8%1.8%
Diverted0.0%0.3%0.1%0.3%
Average arrival delay4.4 min7.8 min3.1 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights1,2841,6671,2051,684
Scheduled flights3,493147,56663,2747,043,858

12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.

The return direction, PDX to SFO, recorded 69.0% on time across 3,494 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled SFO to PDX flights that arrived on time, Aug 2023 to Jul 2026. Green columns are at or above the national figure for that month (the dark tick), amber below it, red more than eight points below.

Year on year: on time 79.4% against 82.4% (−3.0 pts), cancelled 0.3% against 0.3%, flights 3,493 against 3,723.

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over
Share of flights that arrived on time, by the hour they were scheduled to leave SFO (local time), 12 months to July 2026. Faded cells have few flights. Hover or tap a cell for counts.

Delay causes

BTS cause categoryShare of delay minutesNationalMinutes
Air carrier29.9%33.3%12,386
Late-arriving aircraft60.1%39.7%24,923
National Aviation System9.7%20.7%4,008
Extreme weather0.4%6.1%159
Security0.0%0.1%16
41,492 delay minutes on 709 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Seasonality

Calendar monthFlightsOn timeCancelledAvg arrival delayYears in sample
Jan76583.1%3.1%1.6 min3
Feb76578.2%0.9%5.8 min3
Mar85179.2%0.2%4.4 min3
Apr81576.0%0.6%5.8 min3
May88373.3%0.3%8.6 min3
Jun84073.2%0.2%10.8 min3
Jul96075.0%1.1%7.2 min3
Aug94382.4%0.4%2.1 min3
Sep92984.3%0.3%0.2 min3
Oct97087.3%0.0%-0.9 min3
Nov89080.1%0.9%3.5 min3
Dec81080.0%0.2%6.3 min3

Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.

Other routes from San Francisco (SFO)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
SFO–LAXSan Francisco to Los Angeles11,23572.1%10.5 min0.9%
SFO–SEASan Francisco to Seattle6,79772.3%7.7 min1.1%
SFO–JFKSan Francisco to New York6,76977.4%4.1 min2.2%
SFO–SANSan Francisco to San Diego6,62163.9%17.5 min1.2%
SFO–LASSan Francisco to Las Vegas6,11872.1%12.1 min0.7%
SFO–ORDSan Francisco to Chicago5,61774.6%10.2 min1.2%
SFO–DENSan Francisco to Denver5,46174.8%7.5 min0.4%
SFO–BOSSan Francisco to Boston4,73374.5%7.8 min1.7%

All 84 routes and the airport record for SFO · airport record for PDX

Questions and answers

How often are flights from San Francisco to Portland on time?

79.4% of the 3,493 flights scheduled from SFO to PDX in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.

Which airline has the highest on-time share from SFO to PDX?

Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, United Airlines had the highest on-time share (80.4%), followed by Alaska Airlines (78.5%) and SkyWest Airlines (78.1%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.

What causes delays between San Francisco and Portland?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 60%, air carrier 30%, national aviation system 10%, extreme weather 0%, security 0%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.

What time of day has the highest on-time share from SFO?

Flights scheduled to leave SFO from 7 am to 8 am arrived on time 94.6% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 3 pm to 4 pm at 70.6%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.

Is it getting better?

The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 79.4%, down 3.0 points on the previous 12 months (82.4%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, October had the highest on-time share (87.3%) and June the lowest (73.2%).

Where does this data come from?

Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.