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Airport · SMX · Santa Maria, California

Santa Maria, CA

According to PlainFlights' airport traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Santa Maria, CA (SMX) ranks #359 of 382 tracked US airports by total flights (most flights = #1). Santa Maria, CA posts bottom-quartile on-time performance among the 382 tracked U.S. airports, as a smaller regional airport.

Data updated 2026-06-13

76.6%
On-time
Top 94%
on-time, US airports
97 min
Delay when late
2.33%
Cancelled
#359 of 382
Corpus placement
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SMX on-time rate vs. the national average

Behind the U.S. average across all 382 tracked airports.

0%100%U.S. average79%76.6%

Delay Cause Breakdown

Top delay cause: Late Aircraft. Total delay minutes: 29,754.

Late Aircraft 53.0% (15,774 min)
Carrier 27.6% (8,220 min)
NAS (National Aviation System) 9.9% (2,947 min)
Weather 9.2% (2,744 min)
Security 0.2% (69 min)

SMX - seasonal on-time pattern

Best: January (92.1%) · worst: July (81.4%)

80%85%90%95% JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 88.8%

SMX - on-time rate by year

2020–2025, year-over-year trend.

75%80%85%90%95%100% 202020212022202320242025 94.9% 89.4% ▼ -5.8%

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

Average taxi-out 12.9 min · taxi-in 5.4 min over the last 24 reported months (U.S. airport mean taxi-out ≈ 16.4 min).

5 min10 min15 min20 min Jan 24Dec 25 11.9 min 16.1 min ▲ +35.3%

SMX's average taxi-out (12.9 min) stays shorter than the recent U.S. airport mean (~16.4 min). Even the heaviest month (April 2025, 18.1 min) is milder than many hubs' typical book.

Cancellation & Diversion Analysis

Flight disruption statistics for Santa Maria, CA.

Cancellation Rate

2.33%

51 of 2,193 flights

Diversion Rate

0.05%

1 of 2,193 flights

Delay Rate

23.4%

513 of 2,193 flights

Nationwide peers by on-time rate & flight volume

Two PlainFlights-derived comparison paths for Santa Maria, 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: 76.6%).

Provo, UT

Provo, UT

76.5% on-time 20,217 flights

Orlando, FL

Orlando, FL

76.7% on-time 1,718,833 flights

St. Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg, FL

76.7% on-time 96,149 flights

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Fort Lauderdale, FL

76.4% on-time 1,010,982 flights

Similar flight volume

Nearest out-of-state total flights (this airport: 2,193).

Hyannis, MA

Hyannis, MA

2,242 flights 79.1% on-time

Lynchburg, VA

Lynchburg, VA

2,116 flights 86.5% on-time

Alamosa, CO

Alamosa, CO

1,982 flights 89% on-time

St. Cloud, MN

St. Cloud, MN

1,690 flights 83.2% 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

SMX delay-share reading

The standout signal at Santa Maria, CA is the delay mix: Late Aircraft owns 53.0% of 29,754 delay minutes across 2,193 BTS flights. The on-time headline is 76.6% (2.4 pts below the 79% national average), with 513 delayed and 51 cancelled (2.33%).

Delay minutes concentrate in Late Aircraft (53.0% late-aircraft, 27.6% carrier, 9.9% NAS, 9.2% weather, 0.2% security). As a quieter airport, a single late inbound can swing the month more than at a mega-hub.

On the multi-year calendar, SMX is strongest in January (92.1% on-time) and weakest in July (81.4%), a 10.7-point swing. Volume peaks in November (~48 flights/month). 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 SMX's data

SMX'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.

  • Compare SMX against airports with a similar on-time rate. Compare airports
  • Travel in January rather than July if your dates are flexible. Seasonal patterns
  • Gate-to-wheels taxi-out averages 12.9 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.