On-Time Report

Routes › Sacramento (SMF) › SMF to AUS

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Sacramento to Austin: on-time record

Sacramento International to Austin - Bergstrom International

78.7%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.

In the 12 months to July 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 385 flights from Sacramento (SMF) to Austin (AUS), a distance of 1,481 miles. 78.7% of them arrived within 15 minutes of schedule.

That is 2.7 points above the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 2.7 points below the 81.4% recorded for all departures from SMF. Flights that did arrive were 5.5 min late on average, and 0.3% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier on the route, with 385 flights in the period.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at SMF), flights leaving from 6 am to 7 am had the highest on-time share, 98.0%; those leaving from 12 pm to 1 pm had the lowest, 42.9%.

The on-time share is down 3.0 points on the previous 12 months (81.7%); cancellations moved from 0.0% to 0.3%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, air carrier 44%, late-arriving aircraft 32% and national aviation system 25%.

78.7%arrived on timenational 76.0%
5.5 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
0.3%cancellednational 1.8%
32flights a month385 in 12 months · 1,481 miles
Every scheduled SMF to AUS flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
WN Southwest Airlines385100%78.7%5.5 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

MeasureSMF to AUSAll departures from SMFAll arrivals at AUSAll reported flights
Arrived on time78.7%81.4%76.0%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late21.0%17.7%22.8%21.9%
Cancelled0.3%0.7%1.1%1.8%
Diverted0.0%0.2%0.2%0.3%
Average arrival delay5.5 min3.1 min7.0 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights9551,1171,5451,684
Scheduled flights38556,30689,5147,043,858

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, AUS to SMF, recorded 72.2% on time across 385 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled SMF to AUS 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 78.7% against 81.7% (−3.0 pts), cancelled 0.3% against 0.0%, flights 385 against 616.

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 SMF (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 carrier43.6%33.3%1,332
Late-arriving aircraft31.8%39.7%972
National Aviation System24.5%20.7%748
Extreme weather0.0%6.1%0
Security0.0%0.1%0
3,052 delay minutes on 81 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
Jan12483.9%0.8%3.4 min3
Feb10091.0%0.0%-0.6 min3
Mar11776.9%0.0%5.0 min3
Apr13588.9%0.0%2.1 min3
May14678.1%0.0%5.4 min3
Jun14067.9%0.0%11.2 min3
Jul14778.9%0.0%9.2 min3
Aug17580.6%0.0%4.2 min3
Sep14088.6%0.0%0.2 min3
Oct14381.1%0.0%5.7 min3
Nov14276.1%0.0%6.7 min3
Dec14685.6%0.7%3.1 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 Sacramento (SMF)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
SMF–LAXSacramento to Los Angeles5,64385.1%1.0 min0.4%
SMF–SANSacramento to San Diego5,18071.1%11.0 min1.0%
SMF–SEASacramento to Seattle4,39082.3%-0.6 min0.3%
SMF–LASSacramento to Las Vegas4,11479.4%5.6 min0.6%
SMF–DENSacramento to Denver3,84582.7%2.7 min0.3%
SMF–PHXSacramento to Phoenix3,63080.6%5.4 min0.6%
SMF–BURSacramento to Burbank2,60683.5%0.0 min1.8%
SMF–SNASacramento to Santa Ana2,31084.0%0.3 min0.3%

All 45 routes and the airport record for SMF · airport record for AUS

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Sacramento to Austin on time?

78.7% of the 385 flights scheduled from SMF to AUS 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 SMF to AUS?

Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier with at least 60 flights on the route in the period, so there is no comparison to make.

What causes delays between Sacramento and Austin?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: air carrier 44%, late-arriving aircraft 32%, national aviation system 25%, 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 SMF?

Flights scheduled to leave SMF from 6 am to 7 am arrived on time 98.0% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 12 pm to 1 pm at 42.9%. 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 78.7%, down 3.0 points on the previous 12 months (81.7%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, February had the highest on-time share (91.0%) and June the lowest (67.9%).

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.