Routes › Sacramento (SMF) › SMF to JFK
Route · 12 months to July 2026
Sacramento to New York: on-time record
Sacramento International to John F. Kennedy International
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.
Flights from Sacramento (SMF) to New York (JFK) arrived on time 68.5% of the time in the 12 months to July 2026. Reporting carriers scheduled 165 flights on the route in that period, about 0.5 a day, a distance of 2,521 miles.
That is 7.5 points below the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 12.9 points below the 81.4% recorded for all departures from SMF. Flights that did arrive were 25.2 min late on average, and 4.2% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).
JetBlue Airways is the only reporting carrier on the route, with 165 flights in the period.
The on-time share is up 5.2 points on the previous 12 months (63.3%); cancellations moved from 1.7% to 4.2%.
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, air carrier 49%, late-arriving aircraft 46% and national aviation system 5%.
- On time 68.5%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 27.3%
- Cancelled 4.2%
- Diverted 0.0%
Airlines on the route compared
| Reporting carrier | Flights | Share | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B6 JetBlue Airways | 165 | 100% | 68.5% | 25.2 min | 4.2% |
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
| Measure | SMF to JFK | All departures from SMF | All arrivals at JFK | All reported flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrived on time | 68.5% | 81.4% | 74.8% | 76.0% |
| Arrived 15+ minutes late | 27.3% | 17.7% | 21.3% | 21.9% |
| Cancelled | 4.2% | 0.7% | 3.5% | 1.8% |
| Diverted | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.5% | 0.3% |
| Average arrival delay | 25.2 min | 3.1 min | 7.8 min | 8.1 min |
| Delay minutes per 100 flights | 3,088 | 1,117 | 1,825 | 1,684 |
| Scheduled flights | 165 | 56,306 | 102,635 | 7,043,858 |
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, JFK to SMF, recorded 57.6% on time across 165 flights in the same period.
Month by month
Year on year: on time 68.5% against 63.3% (+5.2 pts), cancelled 4.2% against 1.7%, flights 165 against 180.
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Seasonality
| Calendar month | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg arrival delay | Years in sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 31 | 71.0% | 0.0% | 16.7 min | 1 |
| Feb | 29 | 44.8% | 3.4% | 66.6 min | 1 |
| Mar | 31 | 48.4% | 3.2% | 67.6 min | 1 |
| Apr | 31 | 90.3% | 0.0% | 26.0 min | 2 |
| May | 80 | 73.8% | 0.0% | 21.2 min | 3 |
| Jun | 90 | 63.3% | 0.0% | 49.7 min | 3 |
| Jul | 93 | 40.9% | 8.6% | 64.6 min | 3 |
| Aug | 93 | 59.1% | 2.2% | 23.0 min | 3 |
| Sep | 90 | 67.8% | 1.1% | 53.9 min | 3 |
| Oct | 82 | 81.7% | 0.0% | 0.8 min | 3 |
| Nov | 29 | 69.0% | 3.4% | 9.9 min | 1 |
| Dec | 31 | 71.0% | 0.0% | 16.9 min | 1 |
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)
| Route | Cities | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMF–LAX | Sacramento to Los Angeles | 5,643 | 85.1% | 1.0 min | 0.4% |
| SMF–SAN | Sacramento to San Diego | 5,180 | 71.1% | 11.0 min | 1.0% |
| SMF–SEA | Sacramento to Seattle | 4,390 | 82.3% | -0.6 min | 0.3% |
| SMF–LAS | Sacramento to Las Vegas | 4,114 | 79.4% | 5.6 min | 0.6% |
| SMF–DEN | Sacramento to Denver | 3,845 | 82.7% | 2.7 min | 0.3% |
| SMF–PHX | Sacramento to Phoenix | 3,630 | 80.6% | 5.4 min | 0.6% |
| SMF–BUR | Sacramento to Burbank | 2,606 | 83.5% | 0.0 min | 1.8% |
| SMF–SNA | Sacramento to Santa Ana | 2,310 | 84.0% | 0.3 min | 0.3% |
All 45 routes and the airport record for SMF · airport record for JFK
Questions and answers
How often are flights from Sacramento to New York on time?
68.5% of the 165 flights scheduled from SMF to JFK 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 JFK?
JetBlue Airways 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 New York?
For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: air carrier 49%, late-arriving aircraft 46%, national aviation system 5%, 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?
Too few departure hours carry enough flights on this route to compare them.
Is it getting better?
The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 68.5%, up 5.2 points on the previous 12 months (63.3%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, October had the highest on-time share (81.7%) and July the lowest (40.9%).
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.