According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), San Diego, CA (SAN) ranks #26 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). San Diego, CA posts bottom-quartile on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as a high-volume U.S. airport.
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SAN on-time rate vs. the national average
Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.
Volume vs. on-time rate
Where San Diego, CA sits on volume vs. on-time rate
Among the 382 U.S. airports in the BTS corpus, San Diego, CA handles more flight
volume than 93% of them, and has a higher on-time rate than
21% of them, placing it in the quadrant for busy and delay-prone.
Flight volume and on-time rate are independent figures: a busy airport can still run
reliably, and a quiet one can still run late.
San Diego, CA vs. a 29-airport national peer sample, volume percentile vs. on-time-rate percentile.
Total flights (2020-2025): 973,807 ·
On-time rate: 80.8%
Delay Cause Breakdown
Top delay cause: Late Aircraft.
Total delay minutes5,553,306 min
Late Aircraft2,577,835 min · 46%
Carrier1,586,690 min · 29%
NAS (National Aviation System)1,160,479 min · 21%
Weather216,666 min · 4%
Security11,636 min · 0%
Source: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, On-Time Performance
SAN - seasonal on-time pattern
Best: January (92.8%) · worst: June (88.6%)
SAN - on-time rate by year
2020–2025, year-over-year trend.
SAN - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)
Average taxi-out 21.7 min · taxi-in 6.1 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).
SAN's average taxi-out (21.7 min) runs longer than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). The heaviest month in this window is October 2024 at 25.2 min; the lightest is January 2024 at 17.6 min.
Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for San Diego, CA, both outside California so the neighborhoods are not same-state geography. Axes stay disjoint: volume peers exclude the on-time peer set. Same-state compare stays below.
The standout signal at San Diego, CA is the delay mix: Late Aircraft owns 46.4% of 5,553,306 delay minutes across 973,807 BTS flights. The on-time headline is 80.8% (1.8 pts above the 79% national average), with 186,727 delayed and 9,421 cancelled (0.97%).
Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (46.4% late-aircraft, 28.6% carrier, 20.9% NAS, 3.9% weather, 0.2% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.
On the multi-year calendar, SAN is strongest in January (92.8% on-time) and weakest in June (88.6%), a 4.2-point swing. Volume peaks in July (~14,880 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to SFO (San Francisco) at 77.3% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.
San Diego, CA vs. the national on-time distribution
On-time rate among all 382 tracked U.S. airports
80.8%Top 79%higher than 21% of 382 airports
San Diego, CA
60%95%
U.S. airports by on-time rate, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more airports. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Data Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data (2020–2025).
Statistics reflect cumulative performance across all available reporting periods. On-time rates exclude cancelled and diverted flights.
SAN's on-time book sits in the slower half of the BTS set; check the delay mix and the worst month before treating the headline as typical.
Check the busiest route from SAN before you book a connection. See top routes →
Travel in January rather than June if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns →
Build extra connection buffer when taxi-out spikes. October 2024 averaged 25.2 min. Taxi times →
On-time rate reflects the BTS historical average across all reporting carriers at this airport, not any single flight or airline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is San Diego, CA's on-time rate?
San Diego, CA (SAN) has a 80.8% on-time rate across 973,807 BTS-tracked flights (2020-2025), 1.8 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average; that places it in roughly the bottom-quartile on-time performance.
How does SAN rank among U.S. airports by traffic volume?
San Diego, CA ranks #26 of 382 tracked US airports by total BTS flights (most flights = #1), making it a high-volume U.S. airport.
What's the most common cause of delays at San Diego, CA?
Late Aircraft is the leading delay cause at SAN, accounting for 46.4% of delay minutes. The full breakdown: 46.4% late-aircraft, 28.6% carrier, 20.9% NAS/air-traffic-control, 3.9% weather, and 0.2% security.
When is the best time to fly through San Diego, CA?
January is historically SAN's strongest month at 92.8% on-time, while June is the weakest at 88.6%, a 4.2-point swing across the BTS historical record.