According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), San Francisco, CA (SFO) ranks #13 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). San Francisco, CA posts bottom-quartile on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as one of the busiest U.S. airports.
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SFO 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 Francisco, CA sits on volume vs. on-time rate
Among the 382 U.S. airports in the BTS corpus, San Francisco, CA handles more flight
volume than 97% of them, and has a higher on-time rate than
23% 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 Francisco, CA vs. a 29-airport national peer sample, volume percentile vs. on-time-rate percentile.
Total flights (2020-2025): 1,466,784 ·
On-time rate: 81.0%
Delay Cause Breakdown
Top delay cause: Late Aircraft.
Total delay minutes8,260,329 min
Late Aircraft3,467,118 min · 42%
Carrier3,047,988 min · 37%
NAS (National Aviation System)1,476,905 min · 18%
Weather262,019 min · 3%
Security6,299 min · 0%
Source: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, On-Time Performance
SFO - seasonal on-time pattern
Best: September (93%) · worst: December (89.1%)
SFO - on-time rate by year
2020–2025, year-over-year trend.
SFO - taxi-out and taxi-in (monthly)
Average taxi-out 20.6 min · taxi-in 7.8 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).
SFO's average taxi-out (20.6 min) runs longer than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). The heaviest month in this window is May 2025 at 22.3 min; the lightest is January 2025 at 19.1 min.
Cancellation & Diversion Analysis
Flight disruption statistics for San Francisco, CA.
Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for San Francisco, 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 Francisco, CA is traffic scale: 1,466,784 BTS flights (2020–2025) place it #13 of 382 by book size. That busy-book footprint sits beside a 81% on-time rate (2 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average), 278,538 delayed departures, and 12,405 cancellations (0.85% of the book).
Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (42.0% late-aircraft, 36.9% carrier, 17.9% NAS, 3.2% weather, 0.1% security). As a busy airport, that mix matters more for connection planning than for a thin schedule.
On the multi-year calendar, SFO is strongest in September (93% on-time) and weakest in December (89.1%), a 3.9-point swing. Volume peaks in March (~21,755 flights/month). The busiest connecting route is to LAX (Los Angeles) at 78.7% on-time. Field definitions: on-time performance explained.
San Francisco, CA vs. the national on-time distribution
On-time rate among all 382 tracked U.S. airports
81%Top 77%higher than 23% of 382 airports
San Francisco, 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.
SFO'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 SFO before you book a connection. See top routes →
Travel in September rather than December if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns →
Build extra connection buffer when taxi-out spikes. May 2025 averaged 22.3 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 Francisco, CA's on-time rate?
San Francisco, CA (SFO) has a 81% on-time rate across 1,466,784 BTS-tracked flights (2020-2025), 2 pts above the 79% national flight-weighted average; that places it in roughly the bottom-quartile on-time performance.
How does SFO rank among U.S. airports by traffic volume?
San Francisco, CA ranks #13 of 382 tracked US airports by total BTS flights (most flights = #1), making it one of the busiest U.S. airports.
What's the most common cause of delays at San Francisco, CA?
Late Aircraft is the leading delay cause at SFO, accounting for 42.0% of delay minutes. The full breakdown: 42.0% late-aircraft, 36.9% carrier, 17.9% NAS/air-traffic-control, 3.2% weather, and 0.1% security.
When is the best time to fly through San Francisco, CA?
September is historically SFO's strongest month at 93% on-time, while December is the weakest at 89.1%, a 3.9-point swing across the BTS historical record.