Southwest Airlines on-time performance
2,012 routes · 108 airports · Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
On-time arrivals
76%
arrived < 15 min late
Cancelled
0.9%
12,238 flights
Avg arrival delay
14 min
53 min when late
US airline rank
#8 of 14
by on-time arrival
Key facts
- Southwest Airlines flights arrived on time 76% of the time in Aug 2025 – Jul 2026, worse than the 78% national average.
- 0.9% were cancelled, and 6% arrived an hour or more late.
- That ranks #8 of 14 US airlines for on-time arrivals.
- The largest source of delay minutes was late-arriving aircraft (51%).
Monthly trend
Southwest Airlines's most delayed routes
Southwest Airlines's most reliable routes
Southwest Airlines at its biggest airports
Departures operated by this airline at each airport.
| Airport | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Departures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN Denver | 70% | 0.6% | 17 min | 88,450 |
| LAS Las Vegas | 74% | 0.6% | 14 min | 86,313 |
| BWI Baltimore | 77% | 1.6% | 13 min | 72,159 |
| MDW Chicago | 75% | 1.5% | 15 min | 69,305 |
| DAL Dallas | 73% | 1.4% | 16 min | 68,611 |
| PHX Phoenix | 74% | 0.6% | 14 min | 67,125 |
| BNA Nashville | 74% | 0.8% | 14 min | 62,118 |
| MCO Orlando | 73% | 1.0% | 17 min | 50,933 |
| HOU Houston | 77% | 0.7% | 13 min | 50,270 |
| STL St. Louis | 77% | 0.6% | 14 min | 39,473 |
| AUS Austin | 73% | 0.6% | 15 min | 38,365 |
| SAN San Diego | 72% | 0.9% | 15 min | 38,266 |
| SMF Sacramento | 80% | 0.5% | 11 min | 31,980 |
| OAK Oakland | 78% | 0.5% | 12 min | 27,848 |
| SJC San Jose | 80% | 0.5% | 11 min | 26,436 |
Why flights were late
- Late-arriving aircraft51%
- Airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling)28%
- Air traffic control & airport congestion18%
- Extreme weather2%
- Security0%
Why flights were cancelled
- Extreme weather58%
- Air traffic control & airport congestion22%
- Airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling)20%
- Security0%
Busiest Southwest Airlines routes
- DAL → HOU 75%
- HOU → DAL 81%
- DEN → PHX 72%
- PHX → DEN 73%
- SMF → SAN 70%
- SAN → SMF 75%
- LAS → SAN 61%
- SAN → LAS 74%
- SAN → SJC 75%
- SJC → SAN 69%
- MCO → BWI 77%
- BWI → MCO 77%
- LAS → SMF 78%
- PHX → LAS 77%
- LAS → PHX 77%
- SMF → LAS 79%
- LAS → RNO 79%
- RNO → LAS 83%
- LAS → SJC 78%
- SJC → LAS 81%
- PHX → SAN 70%
- BUR → LAS 81%
- SAN → PHX 73%
- OAK → LAS 77%
- LAS → BUR 77%
- LAS → OAK 73%
- DEN → LAS 72%
- LAS → DEN 71%
- DAL → DEN 70%
- DEN → DAL 71%
- OAK → SAN 65%
- SAN → OAK 74%
- PHX → DAL 76%
- DAL → PHX 74%
- HNL → OGG 93%
- OGG → HNL 94%
- DAL → LAS 74%
- LAS → DAL 71%
- SAT → DAL 83%
- DAL → SAT 77%
- OAK → BUR 82%
- BUR → OAK 85%
- SJC → SNA 87%
- SNA → SJC 87%
- BNA → MCO 73%
- MCO → BNA 74%
- PHX → MDW 72%
- DAL → MCO 70%
- MCO → DAL 73%
- MDW → PHX 76%
- BUR → SMF 86%
- SMF → BUR 85%
- MCO → MDW 70%
- MDW → MCO 75%
- LAS → SNA 78%
- SNA → LAS 81%
- BNA → DAL 77%
- DAL → BNA 71%
- PHX → SNA 79%
- SNA → PHX 83%
Data: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 (12 months). Latest month published by BTS: July 2026. How we calculate this.