Carrier performance at one airport
WN→BUR
Southwest Airlines at Hollywood Burbank
- Departures
- 17,406
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 18
- Rank here
- #5 of 8
Southwest Airlines at Burbank 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 about an hour on average. That rests on 17,406 flights, of which Alaska Airlines flew 2,733 at 86.9% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Southwest Airlines runs half a point ahead of the 81.8% weighted average across all carriers at BUR. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
82.4%
17,190 completed departures
Avg delay
56 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.06%
At BUR, this carrier only
Rank here
#5
Of 8 carriers clearing the floor at BUR
These figures cover 17,000 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 BUR, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Alaska Airlines arrives on time 86.9% of the time; United Airlines manages 67.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,487 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 2,733 | 86.9% | 62 min | 1.72% | A |
| Delta Air Lines | 787 | 84.4% | 103 min | 2.80% | B |
| Spirit Airlines | 670 | 84.0% | 72 min | 3.13% | B− |
| SkyWest Airlines | 4,124 | 84.0% | 90 min | 1.33% | B |
| Southwest Airlines (this page) | 17,406 | 82.4% | 56 min | 1.06% | B |
| American Airlines | 765 | 81.5% | 79 min | 2.48% | B |
| Envoy Air | 365 | 80.7% | 58 min | 0.55% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 2,487 | 67.6% | 69 min | 0.48% | C+ |
Spirit Airlines cancels 3.1% 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
Where Southwest Airlines flies from BUR
Southwest Airlines operates 18 routes out of BUR 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUR to LAS · Las Vegas | 3,240 | 80.1% | 57 min | 1.39% | B |
| BUR to OAK · Oakland | 2,694 | 84.8% | 55 min | 0.93% | B+ |
| BUR to SMF · Sacramento | 2,596 | 86.5% | 54 min | 1.50% | A |
| BUR to PHX · Phoenix | 2,162 | 84.8% | 59 min | 1.02% | B |
| BUR to SJC · San Jose | 2,133 | 86.3% | 53 min | 1.17% | A |
| BUR to DEN · Denver | 1,276 | 83.2% | 63 min | 0.55% | B+ |
| BUR to SFO · San Francisco | 514 | 40.4% | 56 min | 1.56% | F |
| BUR to RNO · Reno | 424 | 83.9% | 63 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| BUR to DAL · Dallas | 384 | 84.3% | 47 min | 1.04% | B |
| BUR to AUS · Austinthin sample | 342 | 79.8% | 42 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| BUR to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 328 | 79.9% | 58 min | 0.91% | B+ |
| BUR to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 323 | 88.8% | 47 min | 0.62% | A+ |
| BUR to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample | 314 | 81.4% | 56 min | 0.64% | B+ |
| BUR to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 164 | 78.4% | 53 min | 0.61% | B+ |
| BUR to BOI · Boisethin sample | 134 | 69.2% | 71 min | 0.75% | C+ |
| BUR to STS · Santa Rosathin sample | 128 | 65.4% | 47 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| BUR to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 121 | 87.5% | 59 min | 0.83% | A+ |
| BUR to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 95 | 76.8% | 61 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 20 points, against 19 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,118 flights94.2%
- 8am–11am3,945 flights88.1%
- 11am–2pm3,501 flights82.1%
- 2pm–5pm3,499 flights76.0%
- 5pm–8pm2,883 flights77.9%
- 8pm–5am1,460 flights74.6%
Scale runs 65% to 100%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.2% of the time, against 74.6% 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 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 3,945 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
June is the worst month at 76.3% on time, 16 points below January, the best at 92.0%. 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 1,595 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 59%Late-arriving aircraft
- 23%National Airspace System
- 17%Carrier
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
59% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 170,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 32 to one. The split is drawn from 169,994 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.06% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.18%.
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 about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
17,406 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.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. January runs 92.0% on time and June 76.3%, a swing of 16 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of June before you think about anything else. 17,190 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
Southwest Airlines at BUR
How often is Southwest Airlines at BUR 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 17.6% of the 17,406 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Southwest Airlines at BUR?
Alaska Airlines leads at 86.9% on time across 2,733 flights. United Airlines is at the other end on 67.6%, a gap of 19 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 BUR?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 94.2% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 74.6%, 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 June delays on Southwest Airlines at BUR?
June is the weakest month at 76.3% on time, compared with 92.0% in January. Across the year that is 16 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.