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Airport · SBP · San Luis Obispo, California

San Luis Obispo, CA

According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), San Luis Obispo, CA (SBP) ranks #140 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). San Luis Obispo, CA posts below-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as a mid-size U.S. airport.

Data updated 2026-06-13

83.2%
On-time
Top 52%
on-time, US airports
88 min
Delay when late
0.74%
Cancelled
#140 of 382
Corpus placement
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SBP on-time rate vs. the national average

Ahead of the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.

0%100%U.S. average79%83.2%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Carrier. Total delay minutes: 428,084.

Late Aircraft 31.9% (136,583 min)
Carrier 46.8% (200,487 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 13.0% (55,677 min)
Weather 7.9% (33,820 min)
Security 0.4% (1,517 min)

SBP - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: April (93.1%) · worst: December (89.8%)

89%90%91%92%93%94% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 89.8%

SBP - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

90%92%94%96% 202020212022202320242025 94.8% 90.5% ▼ -4.5%

SBP - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)

Average taxi-out 18.4 min · taxi-in 5.5 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).

16 min18 min20 min22 min Jan 24Dec 25 17.7 min 19.3 min ▲ +9.0%

SBP's average taxi-out (18.4 min) sits near the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). Month-to-month, it swings from 16.8 min (July 2024) to 21.1 min (September 2025).

Cancellation & Diversion Analysis

Flight disruption statistics for San Luis Obispo, CA.

Cancellation Rate

0.74%

421 of 56,561 flights

Diversion Rate

0.13%

75 of 56,561 flights

Delay Rate

16.8%

9,530 of 56,561 flights

Top Routes from SBP

Busiest routes to and from San Luis Obispo, CA.

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Route Flights On-Time Distance
PHX (Phoenix) → SBP (San Luis Obispo) 6,372 85.6% 509 mi
SBP (San Luis Obispo) → PHX (Phoenix) 6,372 83.6% 509 mi
SBP (San Luis Obispo) → SFO (San Francisco) 5,760 79.2% 190 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → SBP (San Luis Obispo) 5,726 82.4% 190 mi
SBP (San Luis Obispo) → DEN (Denver) 4,285 85% 931 mi
DEN (Denver) → SBP (San Luis Obispo) 4,263 77.5% 931 mi
SBP (San Luis Obispo) → DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) 3,014 76% 1,360 mi
DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) → SBP (San Luis Obispo) 3,013 78.5% 1,360 mi
SBP (San Luis Obispo) → LAX (Los Angeles) 2,717 88.7% 156 mi
LAX (Los Angeles) → SBP (San Luis Obispo) 2,686 87.4% 156 mi
SBP (San Luis Obispo) → SEA (Seattle) 2,043 85% 847 mi
SEA (Seattle) → SBP (San Luis Obispo) 2,042 85.7% 847 mi
SAN (San Diego) → SBP (San Luis Obispo) 1,307 73.3% 263 mi
SBP (San Luis Obispo) → SAN (San Diego) 1,305 80.9% 263 mi

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for San Luis Obispo, 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.

Similar on-time rate

Nearest out-of-state BTS on-time rate (this airport: 83.2%).

Fayetteville, AR

Fayetteville, AR

83.2% on-time 130,348 flights

Lafayette, LA

Lafayette, LA

83.2% on-time 37,254 flights

Roanoke, VA

Roanoke, VA

83.2% on-time 25,454 flights

St. Cloud, MN

St. Cloud, MN

83.2% on-time 1,690 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 56,561).

Amarillo, TX

Amarillo, TX

57,122 flights 82.2% on-time

Shreveport, LA

Shreveport, LA

55,112 flights 83.1% on-time

Rapid City, SD

Rapid City, SD

58,593 flights 83.1% on-time

Islip, NY

Islip, NY

54,300 flights 77.9% on-time

Other Airports in California

Compare performance with other California airports.

LAX 82.8%

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles · 2,137,032 flights
SFO 81%

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco · 1,466,784 flights
SAN 80.8%

San Diego, CA

San Diego · 973,807 flights
SMF 82.7%

Sacramento, CA

Sacramento · 592,833 flights
SJC 84.2%

San Jose, CA

San Jose · 546,547 flights
SNA 82.5%

Santa Ana, CA

Santa Ana · 482,186 flights
OAK 81.7%

Oakland, CA

Oakland · 472,036 flights
BUR 82.4%

Burbank, CA

Burbank · 319,148 flights

SBP delay-share reading

The standout signal at San Luis Obispo, CA is the delay mix: Carrier owns 46.8% of 428,084 delay minutes across 56,561 BTS flights. The on-time headline is 83.2% (4.2 pts above the 79% national average), with 9,530 delayed and 421 cancelled (0.74%).

Delay minutes concentrate in Carrier (31.9% late-aircraft, 46.8% carrier, 13.0% NAS, 7.9% weather, 0.4% security). Mid-volume books still show a clear delay fingerprint rather than a weather-only story.

On the multi-year calendar, SBP is strongest in April (93.1% on-time) and weakest in December (89.8%), a 3.3-point swing. Volume peaks in October (~853 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to PHX (Phoenix) at 85.6% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.

Statewide aggregates for California: California flight data.

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.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Using SBP's data

SBP's on-time book is mid-pack; month and delay-cause mix move more than the headline rate.

  • Check the busiest route from SBP before you book a connection. See top routes
  • Travel in April rather than December if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns
  • Gate-to-wheels taxi-out averages 18.4 min here; check the monthly series before a tight connection. Taxi times

On-time rate reflects the BTS historical average across all reporting carriers at this airport, not any single flight or airline.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) On-Time Performance data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFlights

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Airline on-time performance and operational reliability · 2025

Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. Airport figures are computed directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.