Airport month record

OAKJAN

Oakland International in January 2026

Departures: 2,408
Month: January 2026
National, same month: 79.2%
Carriers: 3

Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at OAK, see live FAA status.

OAK in January earns an A+. Close to nine flights in ten arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 9 points better than the national rate of 79.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about 55 minutes. That rests on 2,408 flights, with a median arrival 8 minutes early.

Set against the rest of the country, OAK's January record is 9 points better than the US average of 79.2%. That gap is worth roughly 92 fewer late arrivals for every thousand flights.

On time

88.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,394 completed departures

Avg delay

54 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.46%

Nationally in January: 4.71%

Whole year

79.5%

OAK across all twelve months

These figures cover 2,408 departures from Oakland International in January 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

January next to OAK's other months

Against OAK's own year, January ran 9 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.5%, which makes it the best of the twelve months in the data. Either side of it, December ran 76.7% on time and February 83.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

OAK month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	3,046	78.4%	62 min	1.05%	B
August 2025	2,850	81.4%	58 min	0.35%	B+
September 2025	2,714	82.4%	47 min	0.29%	B+
October 2025	2,771	79.6%	52 min	0.25%	B+
November 2025	2,618	81.6%	56 min	2.06%	B
December 2025	2,646	76.7%	50 min	0.57%	B+
January 2026 (this page)	2,408	88.4%	54 min	0.46%	A+
February 2026	2,356	83.7%	50 min	0.25%	B+
March 2026	2,569	80.1%	53 min	0.97%	B+
April 2026	2,509	76.4%	46 min	0.28%	B+
May 2026	2,683	76.1%	50 min	0.63%	B+
June 2026	2,597	69.7%	49 min	0.42%	C+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave OAK in January

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 33 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am436 flights95.4%
8am–11am431 flights91.6%
11am–2pm587 flights88.0%
2pm–5pm329 flights84.7%
5pm–8pm536 flights87.1%
8pm–5am89 flights62.9%

Scale runs 55% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 62.9% on time, against 95.4% 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. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 587 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 96.4% on time and Thursday the weakest at 84.1%. 12 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at OAK in January

Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.

Carriers at OAK in January 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,185	88.0%	50 min	0.37%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	119	89.7%	49 min	2.52%	A
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	94	95.7%	96 min	0.00%	A+

Route by route

Busiest routes out of OAK in January

Routes from OAK in January 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
OAK to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	237	84.4%	45 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to SAN · San Diegothin sample	222	77.2%	62 min	0.90%	B+
OAK to BUR · Burbankthin sample	209	91.4%	42 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	165	90.9%	50 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	159	93.7%	61 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	152	88.1%	37 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to SEA · Seattlethin sample	147	87.6%	52 min	1.36%	A
OAK to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	143	88.8%	46 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	142	92.2%	53 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to DEN · Denverthin sample	121	87.6%	54 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to ONT · Ontariothin sample	120	94.1%	45 min	0.83%	A+
OAK to PDX · Portlandthin sample	96	93.8%	74 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	62	85.2%	63 min	1.61%	A
OAK to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	62	93.5%	79 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to BOI · Boisethin sample	59	93.2%	27 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to LIH · Lihuethin sample	37	78.4%	56 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample	37	80.0%	52 min	5.41%	B−
OAK to DAL · Dallasthin sample	33	83.9%	41 min	6.06%	B−
OAK to HOU · Houstonthin sample	32	93.8%	37 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to MDW · Chicagothin sample	32	87.5%	26 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to GEG · Spokanethin sample	31	80.6%	27 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to EUG · Eugenethin sample	31	90.3%	31 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held OAK up in January

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 15,000 reported delay minutes.

Late-arriving aircraft
42%
Carrier
30%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
8%

42% 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 15,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 5 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. The split is drawn from 15,000 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.46%, below the national 4.71% 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.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 2.8% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.6% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

What to do with this

Flying from OAK in January

For a January trip through OAK: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 88.4% on time with 0.46% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Oakland International (OAK), the whole year
OAK in July78.4%
OAK in August81.4%
OAK in September82.4%
OAK in October79.6%
OAK in November81.6%
OAK in December76.7%
OAK in February83.7%
OAK in March80.1%
OAK in April76.4%
OAK in May76.1%
OAK in June69.7%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures