Carrier performance at one airport
WN→ABQ
Southwest Airlines at Albuquerque International Sunport
- Departures
- 11,969
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 16
- Rank here
- #5 of 7
Southwest Airlines at Albuquerque lands a B+, 5 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in six arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 11,969 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 1,177 at 90.6% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Southwest Airlines runs about a point behind the 83.4% weighted average across all carriers at ABQ. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
81.9%
11,866 completed departures
Avg delay
56 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
0.64%
At ABQ, this carrier only
Rank here
#5
Of 7 carriers clearing the floor at ABQ
These figures cover 12,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. The median arrival is 6 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 ABQ, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.6% of the time; American Airlines manages 78.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,660 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 1,177 | 90.6% | 106 min | 1.44% | A |
| SkyWest Airlines | 5,261 | 87.9% | 77 min | 0.44% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 2,067 | 84.1% | 86 min | 1.11% | B |
| Envoy Air | 969 | 82.3% | 59 min | 1.55% | B |
| Southwest Airlines (this page) | 11,969 | 81.9% | 56 min | 0.64% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlines | 545 | 79.3% | 43 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 2,660 | 78.5% | 108 min | 2.56% | B |
The spread between Delta and American is 12 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 12 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Where Southwest Airlines flies from ABQ
Southwest Airlines operates 16 routes out of ABQ 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABQ to PHX · Phoenix | 1,880 | 82.0% | 57 min | 0.37% | B+ |
| ABQ to LAS · Las Vegas | 1,690 | 82.8% | 59 min | 0.30% | B+ |
| ABQ to DAL · Dallas | 1,655 | 84.5% | 54 min | 1.57% | B |
| ABQ to DEN · Denver | 1,464 | 78.3% | 61 min | 0.55% | B+ |
| ABQ to HOU · Houston | 979 | 84.3% | 53 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| ABQ to AUS · Austin | 830 | 80.7% | 63 min | 0.36% | B+ |
| ABQ to SAN · San Diego | 685 | 80.3% | 51 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| ABQ to MDW · Chicago | 493 | 87.6% | 45 min | 1.62% | A |
| ABQ to LAX · Los Angeles | 463 | 76.6% | 60 min | 1.08% | B |
| ABQ to BWI · Baltimore | 410 | 80.7% | 47 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| ABQ to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 353 | 90.6% | 46 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| ABQ to BUR · Burbankthin sample | 335 | 77.8% | 63 min | 0.30% | B+ |
| ABQ to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 267 | 85.3% | 41 min | 0.37% | A+ |
| ABQ to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 257 | 73.2% | 54 min | 1.17% | C |
| ABQ to LGB · Long Beachthin sample | 157 | 77.1% | 49 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| ABQ to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 42 | 81.0% | 41 min | 0.00% | B+ |
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 32 points, against 12 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,598 flights95.9%
- 8am–11am1,985 flights89.6%
- 11am–2pm2,184 flights84.6%
- 2pm–5pm2,620 flights73.2%
- 5pm–8pm1,945 flights70.2%
- 8pm–5am637 flights63.5%
Scale runs 55% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 63.5% on time, against 95.9% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
July is the worst month at 75.0% on time, 13 points below January, the best at 88.2%. 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.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 56%Late-arriving aircraft
- 22%National Airspace System
- 20%Carrier
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
56% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 120,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 29 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.
Cancellations are rare at 0.64%, below the national 1.80% 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.
5.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. 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 about an hour kind, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 11,969 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: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. January runs 88.2% on time and July 75.0%, a swing of 13 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else.
Common questions
Southwest Airlines at ABQ
How often is Southwest Airlines at ABQ 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 18.1% of the 11,969 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Southwest Airlines at ABQ?
Delta Air Lines leads at 90.6% on time across 1,177 flights. American Airlines is at the other end on 78.5%, a gap of 12 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 Southwest Airlines at ABQ?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 95.9% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 63.5%, 32 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 July delays on Southwest Airlines at ABQ?
July is the weakest month at 75.0% on time, compared with 88.2% in January. Across the year that is 13 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, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.