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Airport · SEA · Seattle, Washington

Seattle, WA

According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Seattle, WA (SEA) ranks #9 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Seattle, WA posts below-median on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as one of the busiest U.S. airports.

Data updated 2026-06-13

83.1%
On-time
Top 54%
on-time, US airports
63 min
Delay when late
0.73%
Cancelled
#9 of 382
Corpus placement
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SEA on-time rate vs. the national average

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

0%100%U.S. average79%83.1%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Carrier. Total delay minutes: 8,961,455.

Late Aircraft 28.6% (2,565,832 min)
Carrier 44.3% (3,971,615 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 21.0% (1,877,657 min)
Weather 5.8% (522,011 min)
Security 0.3% (24,340 min)

SEA - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: October (93.3%) · worst: December (89%)

88%89%90%91%92%93%94% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 89%

SEA - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

88%90%92%94%96%98% 202020212022202320242025 95.6% 89.5% ▼ -6.4%

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

Average taxi-out 21.8 min · taxi-in 11.7 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).

18 min20 min22 min24 min26 min Jan 24Dec 25 19.1 min 23.5 min ▲ +23.0%

SEA's average taxi-out (21.8 min) runs longer than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). The heaviest month in this window is November 2025 at 23.7 min; the lightest is January 2024 at 19.1 min.

Cancellation & Diversion Analysis

Flight disruption statistics for Seattle, WA.

Cancellation Rate

0.73%

13,720 of 1,871,155 flights

Diversion Rate

0.11%

2,147 of 1,871,155 flights

Delay Rate

16.9%

315,819 of 1,871,155 flights

Top Routes from SEA

Busiest routes to and from Seattle, WA.

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Route Flights On-Time Distance
SEA (Seattle) → LAX (Los Angeles) 41,859 84% 954 mi
LAX (Los Angeles) → SEA (Seattle) 41,819 86.2% 954 mi
SEA (Seattle) → ANC (Anchorage) 41,143 77.5% 1,448 mi
ANC (Anchorage) → SEA (Seattle) 41,064 85.8% 1,448 mi
PHX (Phoenix) → SEA (Seattle) 38,561 84.3% 1,107 mi
SEA (Seattle) → PHX (Phoenix) 38,549 82.3% 1,107 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → SEA (Seattle) 37,671 82.1% 679 mi
SEA (Seattle) → SFO (San Francisco) 37,651 79.1% 679 mi
DEN (Denver) → SEA (Seattle) 37,116 77.8% 1,024 mi
SEA (Seattle) → DEN (Denver) 37,112 81.1% 1,024 mi
LAS (Las Vegas) → SEA (Seattle) 36,175 81.5% 867 mi
SEA (Seattle) → LAS (Las Vegas) 36,154 80.3% 867 mi
PDX (Portland) → SEA (Seattle) 36,148 87.7% 129 mi
SEA (Seattle) → PDX (Portland) 35,578 83.7% 129 mi
GEG (Spokane) → SEA (Seattle) 31,745 86.5% 224 mi
SEA (Seattle) → GEG (Spokane) 31,686 83.3% 224 mi
ORD (Chicago) → SEA (Seattle) 27,916 79.9% 1,721 mi
SEA (Seattle) → ORD (Chicago) 27,905 82% 1,721 mi
SEA (Seattle) → SJC (San Jose) 26,361 85% 696 mi
SJC (San Jose) → SEA (Seattle) 26,343 86.4% 696 mi

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for Seattle, WA, both outside Washington 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: 83.1%).

Madison, WI

Madison, WI

83.1% on-time 127,239 flights

Rapid City, SD

Rapid City, SD

83.1% on-time 58,593 flights

Shreveport, LA

Shreveport, LA

83.1% on-time 55,112 flights

Fairbanks, AK

Fairbanks, AK

83.1% on-time 44,233 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 1,871,155).

Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

1,986,833 flights 78% on-time

Orlando, FL

Orlando, FL

1,718,833 flights 76.7% on-time

Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix, AZ

2,030,209 flights 81.7% on-time

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, CA

2,137,032 flights 82.8% on-time

Other Airports in Washington

Compare performance with other Washington airports.

GEG 84.4%

Spokane, WA

Spokane · 205,595 flights
PSC 86.9%

Pasco/Kennewick/Richland, WA

Pasco/Kennewick/Richland · 63,750 flights
BLI 85.8%

Bellingham, WA

Bellingham · 29,229 flights
PAE 84.3%

Everett, WA

Everett · 19,411 flights
PUW 86.6%

Pullman, WA

Pullman · 4,696 flights
ALW 88.8%

Walla Walla, WA

Walla Walla · 4,519 flights
EAT 87.3%

Wenatchee, WA

Wenatchee · 2,841 flights
YKM 88%

Yakima, WA

Yakima · 2,733 flights

SEA delay-share reading

The standout signal at Seattle, WA is traffic scale: 1,871,155 BTS flights (2020–2025) place it #9 of 382 by book size. That busy-book footprint sits beside a 83.1% on-time rate (4.1 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average), 315,819 delayed departures, and 13,720 cancellations (0.73% of the book).

Delay minutes concentrate in Carrier (28.6% late-aircraft, 44.3% carrier, 21.0% NAS, 5.8% weather, 0.3% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.

On the multi-year calendar, SEA is strongest in October (93.3% on-time) and weakest in December (89%), a 4.3-point swing. Volume peaks in August (~30,041 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to LAX (Los Angeles) at 84% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.

Statewide aggregates for Washington: Washington 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 SEA's data

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

  • Check the busiest route from SEA before you book a connection. See top routes
  • Travel in October rather than December if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns
  • Build extra connection buffer when taxi-out spikes. November 2025 averaged 23.7 min. 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.