Regional operator · on-time record
OO
SkyWest Airlines
- Flights
- 852,922
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Airports
- 25
- US rank
- #4 by volume
SkyWest Airlines lands a B, about a point better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in five arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by an hour and a half on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 852,922 flights, of which Salt Lake City (SLC) flew 36,165 at 90.8% on time.
Salt Lake City (SLC) is the most reliable of the 25 airports covered here at 90.8% on time across 36,165 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 77.4%
Avg delay
89 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.71%
National rate is 1.80%
Largest base
ORD
75,600 departures, 65.4% on time
These figures cover 853,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
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 90.8% of the time; Chicago (ORD) manages 65.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 75,600 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airport | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD · Chicago | 75,600 | 65.4% | 88 min | 3.54% | C− |
| DEN · Denver | 75,448 | 79.4% | 79 min | 1.19% | B |
| LAX · Los Angeles | 40,411 | 85.5% | 73 min | 0.64% | A+ |
| SLC · Salt Lake City | 36,165 | 90.8% | 64 min | 0.43% | A+ |
| SFO · San Francisco | 32,426 | 77.8% | 74 min | 1.19% | B |
| SEA · Seattle | 29,312 | 85.7% | 58 min | 0.70% | A+ |
| DTW · Detroit | 28,581 | 73.3% | 97 min | 2.04% | C |
| PHX · Phoenix | 27,166 | 81.3% | 78 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| MSP · Minneapolis | 27,006 | 80.2% | 88 min | 1.50% | B |
| DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 23,575 | 76.5% | 80 min | 3.18% | B− |
| SAN · San Diego | 14,980 | 79.4% | 58 min | 1.73% | B |
| IAH · Houston | 14,441 | 76.2% | 94 min | 1.45% | B |
| BOI · Boise | 10,768 | 85.9% | 69 min | 0.39% | A+ |
| PDX · Portland | 10,452 | 84.7% | 63 min | 0.57% | B+ |
| SMF · Sacramento | 9,454 | 83.8% | 69 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| TUS · Tucson | 8,374 | 84.8% | 85 min | 0.49% | B+ |
| OKC · Oklahoma City | 8,129 | 80.3% | 85 min | 1.40% | B |
| ASE · Aspen | 7,992 | 69.5% | 107 min | 6.32% | C− |
| AUS · Austin | 7,916 | 80.0% | 86 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| ATL · Atlanta | 7,416 | 73.7% | 108 min | 2.17% | C |
| FAT · Fresno | 7,413 | 83.2% | 73 min | 0.82% | B+ |
| MKE · Milwaukee | 7,040 | 70.5% | 95 min | 3.03% | C− |
| SJC · San Jose | 6,970 | 88.4% | 65 min | 0.44% | A+ |
| GEG · Spokane | 6,648 | 86.2% | 66 min | 0.72% | A+ |
| PSP · Palm Springs | 5,766 | 80.7% | 77 min | 0.90% | B+ |
Aspen (ASE) cancels 6.3% 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 | 4,898 | 63.3% | 91 min | 4.41% | D− |
| MKE to ORD | 4,895 | 66.4% | 94 min | 3.96% | C− |
| SNA to SFO | 3,545 | 75.0% | 69 min | 1.61% | B |
| SFO to SNA | 3,517 | 80.7% | 60 min | 1.36% | B |
| PDX to SEA | 3,492 | 84.2% | 57 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| LAX to SMF | 3,492 | 87.8% | 76 min | 0.43% | A+ |
| SMF to LAX | 3,491 | 89.8% | 86 min | 0.46% | A+ |
| SEA to PDX | 3,305 | 85.7% | 54 min | 0.51% | A+ |
| DEN to COS | 3,259 | 75.6% | 78 min | 2.06% | B |
| COS to DEN | 3,259 | 79.6% | 75 min | 1.84% | B |
| SEA to BOI | 3,168 | 86.3% | 53 min | 0.22% | A+ |
| SEA to GEG | 3,128 | 87.0% | 56 min | 1.02% | A |
| GEG to SEA | 3,089 | 87.7% | 62 min | 0.97% | A+ |
| BOI to SEA | 2,986 | 86.0% | 57 min | 0.30% | A+ |
| DEN to ASE | 2,717 | 74.2% | 101 min | 5.15% | C− |
| ASE to DEN | 2,715 | 73.6% | 95 min | 5.16% | C− |
| SBN to ORD | 2,662 | 64.3% | 95 min | 3.46% | D− |
| ORD to SBN | 2,662 | 62.0% | 87 min | 3.91% | D− |
| LAX to SFO | 2,614 | 75.1% | 61 min | 1.11% | B |
| SFO to LAX | 2,610 | 78.6% | 59 min | 1.07% | B |
| PHX to LAX | 2,580 | 90.5% | 67 min | 0.74% | A+ |
| LAX to PHX | 2,579 | 87.0% | 58 min | 0.74% | A+ |
| CPR to DEN | 2,543 | 80.5% | 87 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| DEN to CPR | 2,543 | 77.6% | 80 min | 1.10% | B |
| DTW to ORD | 2,383 | 68.9% | 97 min | 2.94% | C |
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 15 points, against 25 points between the best and worst airport. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am121,540 flights86.6%
- 8am–11am165,514 flights82.1%
- 11am–2pm163,434 flights80.1%
- 2pm–5pm165,529 flights75.6%
- 5pm–8pm148,675 flights71.8%
- 8pm–5am88,230 flights76.5%
Scale runs 65% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 86.6% of the time, against 71.8% for the evening window. That is 15 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.
Across the year
SkyWest Airlines through the calendar
Twelve months, one bar each, drawn from the same 852,922 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.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 81.2% on time and Sunday the weakest at 76.6%. 5 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Delay causes
What holds SkyWest Airlines up
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 48% of the 15.7 million delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 48%Carrier
- 21%Late-arriving aircraft
- 17%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 2.2 times the usual weather exposure.
The largest share of delay minutes, 48%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two airports on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 7.53 million of the 15.7 million delay minutes reported here.
Cancellations sit at 1.71% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.33%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
852,922 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 71.8% on time against 86.6% for the 5am–8am slot, and that 15 points is the largest single thing you control here. Salt Lake City (SLC) is the strongest operator if the fares are close.
Common questions
SkyWest Airlines reliability questions
How often is SkyWest Airlines delayed?
About one flight in five arrive 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 852,922 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% 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 90.8% on time across 36,165 flights. Chicago (ORD) is at the other end on 65.4%, a gap of 25 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 86.6% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 71.8%, 15 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 — Chicago65.4%
- SkyWest Airlines at DEN — Denver79.4%
- SkyWest Airlines at LAX — Los Angeles85.5%
- SkyWest Airlines at SLC — Salt Lake City90.8%
- SkyWest Airlines at SFO — San Francisco77.8%
- ORD to MKE route record63.3%
- MKE to ORD route record66.4%
- SNA to SFO route record75.0%
- SFO to SNA route record80.7%
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
- Connecting flights: how much buffer the data says you need
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.