Carrier performance at one airport
OO→TUS
SkyWest Airlines at Tucson International
- Departures
- 8,151
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 9
- Rank here
- #5 of 7
SkyWest Airlines at Tucson earns a B+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 7 points better than the national rate of 77.3%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs a little over an hour. That rests on 8,151 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 1,120 at 90.2% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, SkyWest Airlines runs half a point ahead of the 83.5% weighted average across all carriers at TUS. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
84.1%
8,098 completed departures
Avg delay
80 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
0.48%
At TUS, this carrier only
Rank here
#5
Of 7 carriers clearing the floor at TUS
These figures cover 8,151 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 10 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 TUS, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.2% of the time; American Airlines manages 81.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,989 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 1,120 | 90.2% | 116 min | 1.96% | A |
| Envoy Air | 608 | 86.4% | 75 min | 0.66% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 1,259 | 85.6% | 76 min | 0.79% | A+ |
| Alaska Airlines | 603 | 85.5% | 44 min | 0.83% | A+ |
| SkyWest Airlines (this page) | 8,151 | 84.1% | 80 min | 0.48% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 4,602 | 81.2% | 59 min | 0.39% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 2,989 | 81.1% | 100 min | 2.54% | B |
Delta leads American by 9 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Where SkyWest Airlines flies from TUS
SkyWest Airlines operates 9 routes out of TUS 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TUS to PHX · Phoenix | 2,227 | 82.6% | 93 min | 0.45% | B+ |
| TUS to LAX · Los Angeles | 2,128 | 87.1% | 81 min | 0.42% | A+ |
| TUS to SLC · Salt Lake City | 1,087 | 92.9% | 75 min | 0.18% | A+ |
| TUS to SFO · San Francisco | 883 | 66.2% | 66 min | 0.34% | C+ |
| TUS to DEN · Denver | 522 | 89.0% | 109 min | 0.57% | A+ |
| TUS to ORD · Chicago | 462 | 76.4% | 64 min | 1.95% | B |
| TUS to SEA · Seattle | 371 | 86.8% | 72 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| TUS to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 318 | 92.8% | 85 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| TUS to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 124 | 86.8% | 82 min | 2.42% | A |
Flight by flight
SkyWest Airlines flight numbers from TUS
5 SkyWest Airlines flight numbers leaving TUS 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 13 points, against 9 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,091 flights90.8%
- 8am–11am1,438 flights81.3%
- 11am–2pm2,144 flights84.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,005 flights80.6%
- 5pm–8pm1,274 flights78.3%
- 8pm–5am199 flights81.1%
Scale runs 70% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.8% of the time, against 78.3% for the evening window. That is 13 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 2,144 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
June is the worst month at 80.2% on time, 8 points below October, the best at 88.6%. 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. April was the busiest month here, with 858 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 46%Carrier
- 24%Late-arriving aircraft
- 21%National Airspace System
- 8%Extreme weather
- 1%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 46%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 48,000 of the 103,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 103,336 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.48%, 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.
6.5% 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 8,151 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 5pm–8pm departure. It runs 78.3% on time against 90.8% for the 5am–8am slot, and that 13 points is the largest single thing you control here. Delta Air Lines is the strongest operator if the fares are close. 8,098 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
SkyWest Airlines at TUS
How often is SkyWest Airlines at TUS 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 15.9% of the 8,151 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 TUS?
Delta Air Lines leads at 90.2% on time across 1,120 flights. American Airlines is at the other end on 81.1%, a gap of 9 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 TUS?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 90.8% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 78.3%, 13 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 June delays on SkyWest Airlines at TUS?
June is the weakest month at 80.2% on time, compared with 88.6% in October. Across the year that is 8 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
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.