Airport month record

OAKSEP

Oakland International in September 2025

Departures: 2,714
Month: September 2025
National, same month: 83.4%
Carriers: 5

Historical statistics for September 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s September. For today’s conditions at OAK, see live FAA status.

OAK in September lands a B+, about a point worse than the national rate of 83.4%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by roughly 45 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 2,714 flights, with a median arrival 5 minutes early.

On time

82.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,701 completed departures

Avg delay

47 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.29%

Nationally in September: 0.51%

Whole year

79.5%

OAK across all twelve months

These figures cover 2,714 departures from Oakland International in September 2025. 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

September next to OAK's other months

Against OAK's own year, September ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.5%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for OAK in September, at 0.29% against 0.64% across the year. Either side of it, August ran 81.4% on time and October 79.6%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

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 (this page)	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	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 September

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 27 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–8am512 flights96.3%
8am–11am522 flights89.6%
11am–2pm552 flights78.9%
2pm–5pm400 flights78.4%
5pm–8pm447 flights69.8%
8pm–5am281 flights76.0%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 96.3% of the time, against 69.8% for the evening window. That is 27 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 552 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 91.3% on time and Thursday the weakest at 73.1%. 18 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at OAK in September

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 September 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,420	81.3%	48 min	0.29%	B+
Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample	90	88.8%	38 min	0.00%	A+
SkyWest Airlinesthin sample	90	95.6%	37 min	0.00%	A+
Spirit Airlinesthin sample	54	92.5%	44 min	1.85%	A
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	46	87.0%	32 min	0.00%	A+

Route by route

Busiest routes out of OAK in September

Routes from OAK in September 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
OAK to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	300	80.1%	56 min	1.00%	B
OAK to SAN · San Diegothin sample	275	71.4%	49 min	0.73%	C+
OAK to BUR · Burbankthin sample	254	88.1%	34 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	193	82.6%	39 min	1.55%	B
OAK to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	181	84.0%	37 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to SEA · Seattlethin sample	166	74.7%	46 min	0.00%	C+
OAK to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	146	82.9%	45 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	146	91.8%	61 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to DEN · Denverthin sample	137	71.5%	43 min	0.00%	C+
OAK to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	134	79.5%	78 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to ONT · Ontariothin sample	133	87.2%	65 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to PDX · Portlandthin sample	99	86.9%	44 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	60	90.0%	26 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	60	86.7%	45 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to LIH · Lihuethin sample	60	83.1%	52 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to BOI · Boisethin sample	52	80.8%	39 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to GEG · Spokanethin sample	43	83.7%	45 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to DAL · Dallasthin sample	34	82.4%	50 min	0.00%	B+
OAK to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample	34	90.9%	29 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to MDW · Chicagothin sample	34	91.2%	18 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to AUS · Austinthin sample	30	86.7%	24 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to EUG · Eugenethin sample	30	86.7%	28 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample	30	93.3%	36 min	0.00%	A+
OAK to HOU · Houstonthin sample	30	90.0%	37 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held OAK up in September

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 51% of the 23,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
51%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
16%
Extreme weather
2%

51% 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 23,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 31 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 22,541 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.29%, below the national 0.51% 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 3.4% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 5.4% 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 September

For a September trip through OAK: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 82.4% on time with 0.29% 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 October79.6%
OAK in November81.6%
OAK in December76.7%
OAK in January88.4%
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