Carrier performance at one airport
OO→SMF
SkyWest Airlines at Sacramento International
- Departures
- 8,758
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 8
- Rank here
- #5 of 8
SkyWest Airlines at Sacramento lands a B+, 5 points better than the national rate of 77.3%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That rests on 8,758 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 3,329 at 90.8% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, SkyWest Airlines runs about a point ahead of the 81.8% weighted average across all carriers at SMF. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
82.7%
8,675 completed departures
Avg delay
69 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
0.86%
At SMF, this carrier only
Rank here
#5
Of 8 carriers clearing the floor at SMF
These figures cover 8,758 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 9 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
Against the competition
Every carrier at SMF, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.8% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 76.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 672 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 3,329 | 90.8% | 87 min | 1.08% | A |
| United Airlines | 4,416 | 87.6% | 70 min | 0.75% | A+ |
| Alaska Airlines | 2,855 | 83.9% | 53 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 3,331 | 83.1% | 99 min | 1.77% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines (this page) | 8,758 | 82.7% | 69 min | 0.86% | B+ |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 367 | 79.9% | 63 min | 1.09% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 31,928 | 79.6% | 48 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 672 | 76.2% | 70 min | 1.34% | B |
The spread between Delta and Frontier is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Where SkyWest Airlines flies from SMF
SkyWest Airlines operates 8 routes out of SMF with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMF to LAX · Los Angeles | 3,558 | 89.9% | 87 min | 0.39% | A+ |
| SMF to SEA · Seattle | 1,851 | 87.6% | 58 min | 0.27% | A+ |
| SMF to SFO · San Francisco | 1,245 | 59.3% | 72 min | 1.85% | D |
| SMF to SAN · San Diego | 1,138 | 75.6% | 49 min | 2.02% | B |
| SMF to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 358 | 77.5% | 67 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| SMF to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 289 | 85.7% | 67 min | 0.69% | A+ |
| SMF to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 241 | 92.8% | 83 min | 2.49% | A |
| SMF to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 77 | 90.9% | 60 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Flight by flight
SkyWest Airlines flight numbers from SMF
4 SkyWest Airlines flight numbers leaving SMF flew their main route often enough to have a record of their own. Grouped by destination.
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 20 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,578 flights90.5%
- 8am–11am1,226 flights81.9%
- 11am–2pm1,821 flights85.6%
- 2pm–5pm1,606 flights80.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,806 flights80.2%
- 8pm–5am721 flights70.3%
Scale runs 60% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.5% of the time, against 70.3% for the overnight window. That is 20 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 1,821 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
August is the worst month at 79.0% on time, 7 points below April, the best at 85.6%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck. October was the busiest month here, with 917 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 35%Carrier
- 27%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%National Airspace System
- 13%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 13% 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 2.1 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 102,928 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.86%, below the national 1.89% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
5.4% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 8,758 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: avoid the 8pm–5am departure. It runs 70.3% on time against 90.5% for the 5am–8am slot, and that 20 points is the largest single thing you control here. Delta Air Lines is the strongest operator if the fares are close. 8,675 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
SkyWest Airlines at SMF
How often is SkyWest Airlines at SMF delayed?
About one flight in six arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 17.3% of the 8,758 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on SkyWest Airlines at SMF?
Delta Air Lines leads at 90.8% on time across 3,329 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 76.2%, a gap of 15 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 at SMF?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 90.5% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 70.3%, 20 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 August delays on SkyWest Airlines at SMF?
August is the weakest month at 79.0% on time, compared with 85.6% in April. Across the year that is 7 points between the best and worst months. The seasonal swing is modest enough that it should not decide when you travel.
Related
Where to go next
- SkyWest Airlines network-wide record
- Sacramento International (SMF) all carriers
- SMF to LAX route record89.9%
- SMF to SEA route record87.6%
- SMF to SFO route record59.3%
- SMF to SAN route record75.6%
- Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
- 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.