Salt Lake City, UT

What the Data Says About SLC

Salt Lake City, UT in Salt Lake City, Utah handled 1,319,985 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 85.8% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 186,884 experienced delays, 7,511 were cancelled, and 1,645 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 0.57%, the diversion rate to 0.12%, and the average delay when departures run late is 76.0 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing SLC against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at SLC, Carrier leads the pack. Carrier accounts for 50.6% of total delay minutes, followed by Late Aircraft at 25.1% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 16.2%. Weather contributes 8.1% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.1%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, November runs the cleanest at SLC with a 94.7% on-time rate, while July is the roughest at 90.7% — a 4-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in August, when average flights hit 19,688. The busiest route from SLC is to SLC (Salt Lake City), with 43,089 flights at a 78.3% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 85.8% on-time, 76.0-minute average delay, 0.57% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Salt Lake City, UT.