Regional operator · on-time record
OO
SkyWest Airlines
- Flights
- 855,406
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Airports
- 25
- US rank
- #4 by volume
SkyWest Airlines lands a B, about a point better than the national rate of 77.3%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by an hour and a half on average. That rests on 855,406 flights, of which Salt Lake City (SLC) flew 36,308 at 89.9% on time.
Salt Lake City (SLC) is the most reliable of the 25 airports covered here at 89.9% on time across 36,308 flights.
SkyWest Airlines flies under mainline brands rather than selling tickets in its own name, so a flight in this record may have been booked as American, Delta or United. The DOT reports it under the operating carrier, which is why it appears here separately.
Key figures
On time
78.7%
National average is 77.3%
Avg delay
88 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.79%
National rate is 1.89%
Largest base
ORD
78,955 departures, 65.8% on time
These figures cover 855,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
Airport by airport
Where SkyWest Airlines runs well, and where it does not
The choice of airport is not cosmetic here. Salt Lake City (SLC) arrives on time 89.9% of the time; Chicago (ORD) manages 65.8%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 78,955 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airport | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD · Chicago | 78,955 | 65.8% | 88 min | 4.06% | C− |
| DEN · Denver | 75,223 | 80.4% | 78 min | 1.09% | B |
| LAX · Los Angeles | 40,778 | 84.9% | 70 min | 0.62% | B+ |
| SLC · Salt Lake City | 36,308 | 89.9% | 68 min | 0.41% | A+ |
| SFO · San Francisco | 31,536 | 73.8% | 74 min | 1.31% | C |
| SEA · Seattle | 28,580 | 84.9% | 60 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| DTW · Detroit | 28,477 | 74.1% | 97 min | 2.11% | C |
| MSP · Minneapolis | 28,179 | 80.0% | 87 min | 1.51% | B |
| PHX · Phoenix | 27,507 | 80.3% | 78 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 22,429 | 77.7% | 82 min | 2.89% | B |
| SAN · San Diego | 14,921 | 77.8% | 58 min | 2.01% | B |
| IAH · Houston | 14,187 | 77.8% | 94 min | 1.02% | B |
| PDX · Portland | 10,587 | 85.3% | 64 min | 0.55% | A+ |
| BOI · Boise | 10,341 | 84.8% | 71 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| SMF · Sacramento | 8,758 | 82.7% | 69 min | 0.86% | B+ |
| AUS · Austin | 8,430 | 80.9% | 85 min | 0.87% | B+ |
| TUS · Tucson | 8,151 | 84.1% | 80 min | 0.48% | B+ |
| ASE · Aspen | 8,137 | 71.6% | 105 min | 5.79% | C− |
| OKC · Oklahoma City | 7,670 | 82.1% | 90 min | 1.60% | B |
| MKE · Milwaukee | 7,650 | 72.5% | 94 min | 3.05% | C− |
| FAT · Fresno | 6,909 | 81.4% | 74 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| ATL · Atlanta | 6,699 | 75.1% | 106 min | 2.58% | B |
| SJC · San Jose | 6,558 | 86.9% | 63 min | 0.50% | A+ |
| GEG · Spokane | 6,451 | 84.8% | 69 min | 0.85% | B+ |
| PSP · Palm Springs | 5,901 | 77.8% | 77 min | 0.86% | B+ |
Aspen (ASE) cancels 5.8% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest SkyWest Airlines routes
These are the 25 routes SkyWest Airlines flies most often, each against its network-wide 78.7%. Route-level variation inside a single airline is routinely wider than the gap between two airlines nationally.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD to MKE | 5,047 | 63.9% | 92 min | 4.58% | D− |
| MKE to ORD | 5,046 | 68.3% | 94 min | 4.22% | C− |
| SNA to SFO | 3,567 | 66.4% | 66 min | 1.88% | C |
| LAX to SMF | 3,559 | 87.7% | 76 min | 0.37% | A+ |
| SMF to LAX | 3,558 | 89.9% | 87 min | 0.39% | A+ |
| SFO to SNA | 3,497 | 76.9% | 61 min | 1.69% | B |
| PDX to SEA | 3,472 | 85.5% | 59 min | 0.58% | A+ |
| SEA to PDX | 3,375 | 84.6% | 52 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| DEN to COS | 3,338 | 76.6% | 73 min | 1.65% | B |
| COS to DEN | 3,337 | 83.4% | 77 min | 1.53% | B |
| SEA to GEG | 2,869 | 87.6% | 60 min | 1.12% | A |
| SEA to BOI | 2,853 | 87.8% | 55 min | 0.21% | A+ |
| GEG to SEA | 2,841 | 87.6% | 68 min | 1.09% | A |
| ORD to SBN | 2,777 | 63.0% | 87 min | 4.39% | D− |
| SBN to ORD | 2,777 | 65.7% | 100 min | 3.85% | C− |
| BOI to SEA | 2,754 | 85.9% | 61 min | 0.29% | A+ |
| ASE to DEN | 2,742 | 76.7% | 106 min | 4.96% | B− |
| DEN to ASE | 2,742 | 74.2% | 96 min | 5.11% | C− |
| LAX to PHX | 2,677 | 87.2% | 61 min | 0.71% | A+ |
| PHX to LAX | 2,677 | 90.0% | 68 min | 0.71% | A+ |
| DEN to CPR | 2,629 | 77.7% | 82 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| CPR to DEN | 2,629 | 83.1% | 91 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| ORD to FWA | 2,587 | 62.4% | 80 min | 4.56% | D− |
| FWA to ORD | 2,584 | 67.6% | 106 min | 4.45% | C− |
| DTW to ORD | 2,563 | 68.5% | 98 min | 3.12% | C− |
Flight by flight
Busiest SkyWest Airlines flight numbers
SkyWest Airlines has 675 flight numbers that flew one route often enough to report a rate. These are the busiest; the full list is one click away.
Departure window
The best time of day to fly SkyWest Airlines
Departure time matters more here than the choice of airport. The gap between the best and worst window is 14 points, against 24 points between the best and worst airport.
- 5am–8am122,609 flights86.5%
- 8am–11am167,488 flights81.9%
- 11am–2pm164,150 flights79.7%
- 2pm–5pm165,291 flights75.4%
- 5pm–8pm148,149 flights72.3%
- 8pm–5am87,719 flights76.5%
Scale runs 65% to 90%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 86.5% of the time, against 72.3% for the evening window. That is 14 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 167,488 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
SkyWest Airlines through the calendar
Twelve months, one bar each, drawn from the same 855,406 flights. The strip shows how much of SkyWest's record is set by the calendar rather than by the operation.
December is the weak month at 72.9% on time, against 84.7% in September. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days. July was the busiest month here, with 77,072 flights.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 81.7% on time and Sunday the weakest at 76.2%, a spread of 6 points.
Delay causes
What holds SkyWest Airlines up
Carrier accounts for 46% of the 15.8 million delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 46%Carrier
- 22%Late-arriving aircraft
- 18%National Airspace System
- 14%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 14% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the monthly strip above is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 6%, so this operation carries roughly 2.3 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 15,756,978 reported delay minutes.
The largest share of delay minutes, 46%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 7.23 million of the 15.8 million delay minutes reported here.
Cancellations sit at 1.79% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.32%.
9.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
855,406 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
What to do with this
Booking SkyWest Airlines
Put together: avoid the 5pm–8pm departure. It runs 72.3% on time against 86.5% for the 5am–8am slot, and that 14 points is the largest single thing you control here. Salt Lake City (SLC) is the strongest operator if the fares are close. 837,359 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
SkyWest Airlines reliability questions
How often is SkyWest Airlines delayed?
About one flight in five arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 21.3% of the 855,406 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by an hour and a half on average.
Which airport does SkyWest Airlines run best from?
Salt Lake City (SLC) leads at 89.9% on time across 36,308 flights. Chicago (ORD) is at the other end on 65.8%, a gap of 24 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on SkyWest Airlines?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 86.5% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 72.3%, 14 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on SkyWest Airlines?
December is the weakest month at 72.9% on time, compared with 84.7% in September. Across the year that is 12 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- SkyWest Airlines at ORD — Chicago65.8%
- SkyWest Airlines at DEN — Denver80.4%
- SkyWest Airlines at LAX — Los Angeles84.9%
- SkyWest Airlines at SLC — Salt Lake City89.9%
- SkyWest Airlines at SFO — San Francisco73.8%
- ORD to MKE route record63.9%
- MKE to ORD route record68.3%
- SNA to SFO route record66.4%
- LAX to SMF route record87.7%
- US airline on-time rankings: 14 carriers, four measures
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.