Carrier performance at one airport
WN→BUR
Southwest Airlines at Hollywood Burbank
- Departures
- 17,689
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 19
- Rank here
- #2 of 7
Southwest Airlines at Burbank 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 77.4%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 17,689 flights, of which Alaska Airlines flew 2,548 at 85.1% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Southwest Airlines runs about a point ahead of the 82.9% 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
84.0%
17,448 completed departures
Avg delay
58 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.20%
At BUR, this carrier only
Rank here
#2
Of 7 carriers clearing the floor at BUR
These figures cover 18,000 flights between June 2025 and May 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 85.1% of the time; United Airlines manages 74.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,356 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 2,548 | 85.1% | 60 min | 2.00% | A |
| Southwest Airlines (this page) | 17,689 | 84.0% | 58 min | 1.20% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 758 | 83.1% | 129 min | 2.11% | B |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,030 | 82.7% | 68 min | 2.62% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 4,217 | 82.4% | 83 min | 1.26% | B |
| American Airlines | 830 | 80.7% | 89 min | 2.29% | B |
| United Airlines | 2,356 | 74.5% | 70 min | 0.38% | C+ |
Alaska leads United by 11 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Where Southwest Airlines flies from BUR
Southwest Airlines operates 19 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 | 3,160 | 80.7% | 61 min | 1.27% | B |
| BUR to OAK · Oakland | 2,812 | 86.2% | 55 min | 1.35% | A |
| BUR to SMF · Sacramento | 2,681 | 87.2% | 56 min | 1.83% | A |
| BUR to SJC · San Jose | 2,218 | 87.7% | 59 min | 1.08% | A |
| BUR to PHX · Phoenix | 2,177 | 85.4% | 60 min | 1.33% | A |
| BUR to DEN · Denver | 1,306 | 82.2% | 66 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| BUR to RNO · Reno | 438 | 80.3% | 60 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| BUR to DAL · Dallas | 434 | 85.1% | 48 min | 0.92% | A+ |
| BUR to AUS · Austinthin sample | 346 | 80.8% | 45 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| BUR to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 337 | 85.8% | 59 min | 0.89% | A+ |
| BUR to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample | 335 | 85.0% | 52 min | 0.60% | A+ |
| BUR to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 322 | 87.4% | 43 min | 0.62% | A+ |
| BUR to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 251 | 44.1% | 57 min | 1.99% | F |
| BUR to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 238 | 81.7% | 48 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| BUR to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 208 | 89.2% | 57 min | 1.44% | A |
| BUR to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 146 | 77.2% | 54 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| BUR to BOI · Boisethin sample | 133 | 76.5% | 58 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| BUR to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 95 | 76.8% | 67 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| BUR to STS · Santa Rosathin sample | 39 | 68.4% | 44 min | 0.00% | C+ |
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 18 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,047 flights94.8%
- 8am–11am4,299 flights90.0%
- 11am–2pm3,401 flights84.3%
- 2pm–5pm3,603 flights77.2%
- 5pm–8pm2,906 flights78.9%
- 8pm–5am1,433 flights77.5%
Scale runs 70% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.8% of the time, against 77.2% for the afternoon window. That is 18 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
Delays peak in October, when the on-time rate falls to 78.3%. January is the strongest month at 92.0%. Moving a flexible trip across that boundary buys 14 points.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 62%Late-arriving aircraft
- 21%National Airspace System
- 15%Carrier
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
62% 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 161,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 26 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 sit at 1.20% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.16%.
5.0% 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.
17,689 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 October 78.3%, a swing of 14 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of October before you think about anything else.
Common questions
Southwest Airlines at BUR
How often is Southwest Airlines at BUR 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 16.0% of the 17,689 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 BUR?
Alaska Airlines leads at 85.1% on time across 2,548 flights. United Airlines is at the other end on 74.5%, a gap of 11 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 94.8% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 77.2%, 18 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 October delays on Southwest Airlines at BUR?
October is the weakest month at 78.3% on time, compared with 92.0% in January. Across the year that is 14 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.