Sacramento International Airport (SMF) delays & on-time performance
Sacramento, California · 45 nonstop destinations · 11 airlines · Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
No FAA-reported ground stops or delays at SMF right now. Individual flights can still be delayed by the airline; check with your airline for your flight.
On-time arrivals
82%
arrived < 15 min late
Cancelled
0.7%
397 flights
Avg arrival delay
11 min
57 min when late
Departed on time
81%
avg taxi-out 14 min
Figures cover 56,306 departures from SMF; on-time is measured at arrival. Arrivals into SMF were on time 80% of the time.
Key facts
- Flights departing Sacramento International Airport (SMF) arrived on time 82% of the time in Aug 2025 – Jul 2026, better than the 78% national average.
- 0.7% were cancelled, and 5% arrived an hour or more late.
- Delta Air Lines was the most punctual airline here (91% on time); Southwest Airlines was the least (80%).
- Departures scheduled around 5am did best (94% on time); around 8pm did worst (72%).
- The largest source of delay minutes was late-arriving aircraft (46%).
Most delayed routes from SMF
Lowest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- SFO · San Francisco63%1,356 flts
- SAN · San Diego72%5,180 flts
- DAL · Dallas74%660 flts
- HOU · Houston75%364 flts
- GEG · Spokane77%607 flts
- AUS · Austin79%385 flts
- ORD · Chicago79%1,342 flts
- LAS · Las Vegas80%4,114 flts
- DFW · Dallas/Fort Worth81%1,631 flts
- BOI · Boise81%860 flts
Most reliable routes from SMF
Highest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- IAD · Washington96%365 flts
- ATL · Atlanta93%1,010 flts
- MSP · Minneapolis93%591 flts
- IAH · Houston90%677 flts
- SBA · Santa Barbara89%366 flts
- KOA · Kona88%521 flts
- CLT · Charlotte88%429 flts
- PSP · Palm Springs88%523 flts
- SLC · Salt Lake City87%2,160 flts
- OGG · Kahului87%481 flts
Best airline at SMF
Departures from this airport, ranked by on-time arrival.
| Airline | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Routes | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 91% | 1.1% | 8 min | 5 | 3,387 |
| United Airlines | 88% | 0.8% | 10 min | 7 | 4,390 |
| Spirit Airlines | 85% | 0.8% | 10 min | 1 | 129 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 83% | 0.8% | 12 min | 8 | 8,910 |
| Envoy Air | 83% | 0.7% | 11 min | 1 | 143 |
| Alaska Airlines | 83% | 0.8% | 10 min | 8 | 2,612 |
| American Airlines | 83% | 1.8% | 18 min | 5 | 3,460 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 81% | 1.1% | 13 min | 4 | 460 |
| Southwest Airlines | 80% | 0.5% | 11 min | 30 | 31,980 |
| Frontier Airlines | 77% | 1.3% | 17 min | 3 | 637 |
| JetBlue | 74% | 3.5% | 28 min | 2 | 198 |
Best time to fly out of SMF
On-time arrival rate by scheduled departure hour (local time).
- 5am94%2,948 flts
- 6am93%5,251 flts
- 7am89%4,135 flts
- 8am89%3,851 flts
- 9am89%3,295 flts
- 10am85%3,363 flts
- 11am82%3,687 flts
- 12pm82%3,510 flts
- 1pm80%3,326 flts
- 2pm74%3,465 flts
- 3pm74%2,135 flts
- 4pm73%2,738 flts
- 5pm75%2,385 flts
- 6pm74%2,681 flts
- 7pm73%3,235 flts
- 8pm72%2,933 flts
- 9pm71%1,065 flts
- 10pm86%925 flts
- 11pm83%1,307 flts
Monthly trend
Why departures were late
- Late-arriving aircraft46%
- Airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling)33%
- Air traffic control & airport congestion18%
- Extreme weather3%
- Security0%
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.