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Airport · SFO · San Francisco, California

San Francisco, CA

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.

Data updated 2026-06-13

81%
On-time
Top 77%
on-time, US airports
73 min
Delay when late
0.85%
Cancelled
#13 of 382
Corpus placement
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SFO on-time rate vs. the national average

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

0%100%U.S. average79%81%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Late Aircraft. Total delay minutes: 8,260,329.

Late Aircraft 42.0% (3,467,118 min)
Carrier 36.9% (3,047,988 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 17.9% (1,476,905 min)
Weather 3.2% (262,019 min)
Security 0.1% (6,299 min)

SFO - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: September (93%) · worst: December (89.1%)

88%89%90%91%92%93%94% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 89.1%

SFO - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

85%90%95%100% 202020212022202320242025 95.7% 90.6% ▼ -5.3%

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).

18 min19 min20 min21 min22 min23 min Jan 24Dec 25 19.8 min 20.9 min ▲ +5.6%

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.

Cancellation Rate

0.85%

12,405 of 1,466,784 flights

Diversion Rate

0.12%

1,783 of 1,466,784 flights

Delay Rate

19.0%

278,538 of 1,466,784 flights

Top Routes from SFO

Busiest routes to and from San Francisco, CA.

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Route Flights On-Time Distance
LAX (Los Angeles) → SFO (San Francisco) 63,553 78.7% 337 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → LAX (Los Angeles) 63,540 82.9% 337 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → SEA (Seattle) 37,671 82.1% 679 mi
SEA (Seattle) → SFO (San Francisco) 37,651 79.1% 679 mi
JFK (New York) → SFO (San Francisco) 35,481 81.9% 2,586 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → JFK (New York) 35,481 83.2% 2,586 mi
SAN (San Diego) → SFO (San Francisco) 34,589 77.3% 447 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → SAN (San Diego) 34,477 80.3% 447 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → LAS (Las Vegas) 31,598 78.5% 414 mi
LAS (Las Vegas) → SFO (San Francisco) 31,552 74.9% 414 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → DEN (Denver) 28,782 81.4% 967 mi
DEN (Denver) → SFO (San Francisco) 28,758 74.9% 967 mi
ORD (Chicago) → SFO (San Francisco) 26,476 78.8% 1,846 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → ORD (Chicago) 26,450 83.8% 1,846 mi
PHX (Phoenix) → SFO (San Francisco) 24,798 78.5% 651 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → PHX (Phoenix) 24,676 82% 651 mi
EWR (Newark) → SFO (San Francisco) 22,094 76.2% 2,565 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → EWR (Newark) 22,079 77.5% 2,565 mi
SNA (Santa Ana) → SFO (San Francisco) 22,074 81% 372 mi
SFO (San Francisco) → SNA (Santa Ana) 22,048 84.4% 372 mi

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

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.

Similar on-time rate

Nearest out-of-state BTS on-time rate (this airport: 81%).

Chicago, IL

Chicago, IL

81% on-time 3,114,086 flights

Fort Myers, FL

Fort Myers, FL

80.9% on-time 420,518 flights

Savannah, GA

Savannah, GA

80.9% on-time 204,730 flights

Albany, NY

Albany, NY

80.9% on-time 129,222 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 1,466,784).

Boston, MA

Boston, MA

1,455,478 flights 79.9% on-time

Detroit, MI

Detroit, MI

1,488,949 flights 84.8% on-time

Washington, DC

Washington, VA

1,425,060 flights 80.8% on-time

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis, MN

1,406,487 flights 85.4% on-time

Other Airports in California

Compare performance with other California airports.

LAX 82.8%

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles · 2,137,032 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
ONT 82.3%

Ontario, CA

Ontario · 272,856 flights

SFO delay-share reading

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.

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 SFO's data

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.

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.