Carrier performance at one airport
OO→SMF
SkyWest Airlines at Sacramento International
- Departures
- 9,236
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
- Routes
- 8
- Rank here
- #3 of 8
SkyWest Airlines at Sacramento lands a B+, 6 points better than the national rate of 77.6%. About one flight in six arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 9,236 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 3,437 at 91.2% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, SkyWest Airlines runs 2 points ahead of the 82.2% 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
83.7%
9,149 completed departures
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
0.82%
At SMF, this carrier only
Rank here
#3
Of 8 carriers clearing the floor at SMF
These figures cover 9,236 flights between July 2025 and June 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 91.2% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 77.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 588 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 3,437 | 91.2% | 83 min | 0.93% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 4,363 | 86.4% | 65 min | 0.69% | A+ |
| SkyWest Airlines (this page) | 9,236 | 83.7% | 68 min | 0.82% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlines | 2,378 | 82.7% | 48 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 3,571 | 82.6% | 95 min | 1.74% | B |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 553 | 82.4% | 71 min | 1.08% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 32,072 | 80.2% | 49 min | 0.45% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 588 | 77.2% | 69 min | 1.53% | B |
The spread between Delta and Frontier is 14 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 14 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 | 3,517 | 90.1% | 86 min | 0.45% | A+ |
| SMF to SEA · Seattle | 1,952 | 87.4% | 57 min | 0.26% | A+ |
| SMF to SFO · San Francisco | 1,325 | 63.5% | 68 min | 1.81% | D |
| SMF to SAN · San Diego | 1,187 | 79.0% | 54 min | 1.77% | B |
| SMF to PDX · Portland | 444 | 84.7% | 59 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| SMF to LAS · Las Vegas | 405 | 90.7% | 90 min | 1.48% | A |
| SMF to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 333 | 79.5% | 65 min | 0.30% | B+ |
| SMF to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 73 | 91.8% | 64 min | 0.00% | A+ |
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 22 points, against 14 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,834 flights90.7%
- 8am–11am1,209 flights84.0%
- 11am–2pm1,831 flights86.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,751 flights81.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,824 flights81.6%
- 8pm–5am787 flights69.0%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.7% of the time, against 69.0% for the overnight window. That is 22 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,834 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
The year is unusually even here, with only 4 points between the best and worst months. November is the softest at 81.6%, but the seasonal effect is small enough that it should not drive when you travel. July was the busiest month here, with 969 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 38%Carrier
- 27%Late-arriving aircraft
- 22%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 2.0 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 101,299 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.82%, below the national 1.81% 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.
5.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.1%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route are the a little over an hour kind, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 9,236 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 69.0% on time against 90.7% for the 5am–8am slot, and that 22 points is the largest single thing you control here. Delta Air Lines is the strongest operator if the fares are close. 9,149 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 arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 16.3% of the 9,236 flights in this analysis, against 22.4% 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 91.2% on time across 3,437 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 77.2%, a gap of 14 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 90.7% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 69.0%, 22 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 November delays on SkyWest Airlines at SMF?
November is the weakest month at 81.6% on time, compared with 86.0% in July. Across the year that is 4 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
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.