Airport month record
LAXAUG
Los Angeles International in August 2026
- Departures
- 16,494
- Month
- August 2026
- National, same month
- 73.1%
- Carriers
- 8
Historical statistics for August 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s August. For today’s conditions at LAX, see live FAA status.
LAX in August lands a B+, 4 points better than the national rate of 73.1%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 16,494 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 3,480 at 83.8% on time.
SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 83.8% on time across 3,480 flights.
Key figures
On time
76.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 16,290 completed departures
Avg delay
62 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.81%
Nationally in August: 1.86%
Whole year
79.5%
LAX across all twelve months
These figures cover 16,494 departures from Los Angeles International in August 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
August next to LAX's other months
Against LAX's own year, August ran 3 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 79.5%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 15,262 | 85.8% | 66 min | 0.28% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 16,122 | 83.5% | 70 min | 0.31% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 15,422 | 79.7% | 67 min | 1.78% | B |
| December 2025 | 16,050 | 77.7% | 71 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| January 2026 | 14,815 | 81.2% | 76 min | 2.17% | B |
| February 2026 | 13,687 | 80.9% | 69 min | 1.42% | B |
| March 2026 | 16,088 | 77.7% | 65 min | 1.29% | B |
| April 2026 | 15,732 | 81.5% | 62 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 16,317 | 80.0% | 64 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 16,664 | 77.0% | 69 min | 0.61% | B+ |
| July 2026 | 17,454 | 73.7% | 67 min | 1.20% | C |
| August 2026 (this page) | 16,494 | 76.9% | 62 min | 0.81% | B+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave LAX in August
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,045 flights89.2%
- 8am–11am4,208 flights81.0%
- 11am–2pm2,548 flights72.7%
- 2pm–5pm2,432 flights70.9%
- 5pm–8pm2,466 flights70.3%
- 8pm–5am2,795 flights76.4%
Scale runs 60% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.2% of the time, against 70.3% for the evening window. That is 19 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 4,208 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 82.6% on time and Thursday the weakest at 72.2%, a spread of 10 points.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at LAX in August
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 83.8% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 68.1%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,179 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 3,480 | 83.8% | 56 min | 0.06% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 3,339 | 78.8% | 66 min | 0.90% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 2,684 | 75.3% | 61 min | 0.63% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 2,523 | 77.5% | 67 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 2,179 | 68.1% | 57 min | 0.55% | C+ |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,024 | 73.4% | 60 min | 0.78% | C+ |
| JetBlue Airways | 744 | 70.4% | 74 min | 4.97% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 521 | 75.6% | 67 min | 1.54% | B |
JetBlue Airways cancels 5.0% 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
Busiest routes out of LAX in August
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX to SFO · San Francisco | 1,132 | 52.3% | 51 min | 0.27% | F+ |
| LAX to JFK · New York | 916 | 66.5% | 75 min | 4.69% | C− |
| LAX to ORD · Chicago | 762 | 74.9% | 71 min | 0.79% | C+ |
| LAX to SEA · Seattle | 717 | 77.9% | 57 min | 0.14% | B+ |
| LAX to LAS · Las Vegas | 703 | 72.0% | 63 min | 0.28% | C+ |
| LAX to DEN · Denver | 659 | 71.4% | 83 min | 0.46% | C+ |
| LAX to PHX · Phoenix | 610 | 80.9% | 66 min | 0.82% | B+ |
| LAX to SMF · Sacramento | 537 | 86.2% | 61 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| LAX to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 509 | 81.5% | 61 min | 0.20% | B+ |
| LAX to HNL · Honolulu | 486 | 74.0% | 87 min | 1.03% | C |
| LAX to BOS · Boston | 469 | 74.2% | 65 min | 1.49% | C |
| LAX to SJC · San Jose | 389 | 84.7% | 54 min | 1.03% | B |
| LAX to ATL · Atlanta | 388 | 82.6% | 83 min | 0.26% | B+ |
| LAX to EWR · Newark | 385 | 72.1% | 74 min | 3.64% | C− |
| LAX to IAH · Houston | 369 | 83.2% | 48 min | 0.27% | B+ |
| LAX to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 354 | 87.2% | 75 min | 0.56% | A+ |
| LAX to AUS · Austinthin sample | 314 | 75.5% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| LAX to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 308 | 81.4% | 56 min | 0.65% | B+ |
| LAX to MIA · Miamithin sample | 253 | 80.6% | 40 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| LAX to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 249 | 71.5% | 49 min | 0.80% | C+ |
| LAX to RNO · Renothin sample | 244 | 90.6% | 39 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| LAX to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 226 | 81.9% | 58 min | 2.21% | B |
| LAX to TUS · Tucsonthin sample | 225 | 79.5% | 66 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| LAX to OGG · Kahuluithin sample | 223 | 75.0% | 59 min | 1.35% | B |
| LAX to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 216 | 65.7% | 48 min | 0.00% | C+ |
Delay causes
What held LAX up in August
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 234,000 reported delay minutes.
- 36%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 30%National Airspace System
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
36% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 234,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 16 to one. The split is drawn from 234,428 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.81%, below the national 1.86% 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.
7.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 10.9%, 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.
What to do with this
Flying from LAX in August
For a August trip through LAX: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 89.2% on time, and with 7.5% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- Los Angeles International (LAX), the whole year
- LAX in September85.8%
- LAX in October83.5%
- LAX in November79.7%
- LAX in December77.7%
- LAX in January81.2%
- LAX in February80.9%
- LAX in March77.7%
- LAX in April81.5%
- LAX in May80.0%
- LAX in June77.0%
- LAX in July73.7%
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.