San Diego, CA

What the Data Says About SAN

San Diego, CA in San Diego, California handled 973,807 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 80.8% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 186,727 experienced delays, 9,421 were cancelled, and 1,327 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 0.97%, the diversion rate to 0.14%, and the average delay when departures run late is 64.8 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing SAN against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at SAN, Late Aircraft leads the pack. Late Aircraft accounts for 46.4% of total delay minutes, followed by Carrier at 28.6% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 20.9%. Weather contributes 3.9% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.2%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, January runs the cleanest at SAN with a 92.8% on-time rate, while June is the roughest at 88.6% — a 4-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in July, when average flights hit 14,880. The busiest route from SAN is to SFO (San Francisco), with 34,589 flights at a 77.3% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 80.8% on-time, 64.8-minute average delay, 0.97% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at San Diego, CA.