San Francisco to Honolulu

What the Data Says About SFO to HNL

The San Francisco to Honolulu corridor (SFO → HNL) covers roughly 2,398 miles and is served by 7 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 13,309 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 81.1% on-time rate with an average delay of 64.1 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 4,893 flights were recorded on this pairing — 47 cancelled (1.0%) and 6 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 7 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 13,309 total flights analyzed, the 81.1% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 64.1-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Jan 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 93% on-time, while Jan 2024 came in at 65% on-time — a 28-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SFO to HNL route, the combination of a 81.1% on-time rate, 64.1-minute average delay, 1.0% recent cancellation rate, and 7 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.