San Francisco to Salt Lake City

What the Data Says About SFO to SLC

The San Francisco to Salt Lake City corridor (SFO → SLC) covers roughly 599 miles and is served by 16 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 19,875 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 84.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 78.7 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 6,951 flights were recorded on this pairing — 39 cancelled (0.6%) and 1 diverted (0.0%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 16 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 19,875 total flights analyzed, the 84.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 78.7-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, Apr 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 88% on-time, while Mar 2024 came in at 61% on-time — a 27-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SFO to SLC route, the combination of a 84.4% on-time rate, 78.7-minute average delay, 0.6% recent cancellation rate, and 16 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.