Airport month record
SATAPR
San Antonio International in April 2026
- Departures
- 3,384
- Month
- April 2026
- National, same month
- 79.8%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for April 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s April. For today’s conditions at SAT, see live FAA status.
SAT in April lands a B+, 3 points better than the national rate of 79.8%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,384 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 568 at 88.2% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 88.2% on time across 568 flights.
Key figures
On time
82.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,347 completed departures
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.74%
Nationally in April: 0.90%
Whole year
81.8%
SAT across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,384 departures from San Antonio International in April 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
April next to SAT's other months
Against SAT's own year, April ran level with the twelve-month rate of 81.8%, which makes it number seven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for SAT in April, at 0.74% against 1.28% across the year. Either side of it, March ran 79.9% on time and May 80.7%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 3,699 | 76.4% | 77 min | 1.49% | B |
| August 2025 | 3,444 | 81.5% | 79 min | 1.19% | B |
| September 2025 | 3,334 | 85.6% | 71 min | 0.63% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 3,656 | 83.7% | 68 min | 0.38% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,440 | 84.1% | 67 min | 1.19% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,588 | 83.7% | 66 min | 0.72% | B+ |
| January 2026 | 2,921 | 84.8% | 96 min | 3.70% | B− |
| February 2026 | 2,671 | 86.3% | 67 min | 1.27% | A |
| March 2026 | 3,439 | 79.9% | 74 min | 1.37% | B |
| April 2026 (this page) | 3,384 | 82.6% | 66 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 3,485 | 80.7% | 79 min | 1.38% | B |
| June 2026 | 3,393 | 73.5% | 81 min | 1.65% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave SAT in April
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 33 points, against 8 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am936 flights92.6%
- 8am–11am465 flights88.3%
- 11am–2pm637 flights81.4%
- 2pm–5pm700 flights77.3%
- 5pm–8pm551 flights72.8%
- 8pm–5am95 flights60.0%
Scale runs 50% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 60.0% on time, against 92.6% 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 936 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 88.2% on time and Thursday the weakest at 77.8%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SAT in April
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 88.2% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 80.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,334 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,334 | 80.4% | 46 min | 0.30% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 590 | 84.4% | 109 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 568 | 88.2% | 57 min | 0.88% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 491 | 84.6% | 59 min | 0.20% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 145 | 83.3% | 168 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 107 | 68.3% | 47 min | 2.80% | C |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 61 | 78.0% | 59 min | 1.64% | B |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 52 | 65.3% | 106 min | 5.77% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 30 | 93.1% | 30 min | 3.33% | A− |
Delta leads Southwest by 8 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of SAT in April
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 356 | 78.6% | 68 min | 1.12% | B |
| SAT to DEN · Denverthin sample | 250 | 85.6% | 48 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 250 | 83.1% | 51 min | 0.40% | B+ |
| SAT to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 248 | 88.6% | 41 min | 0.81% | A+ |
| SAT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 232 | 86.1% | 47 min | 0.43% | A+ |
| SAT to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 216 | 81.0% | 63 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 175 | 74.4% | 52 min | 2.86% | C |
| SAT to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 163 | 78.8% | 53 min | 1.23% | B |
| SAT to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 146 | 85.6% | 111 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 115 | 86.1% | 195 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 98 | 61.2% | 46 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| SAT to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 90 | 68.5% | 84 min | 1.11% | C |
| SAT to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 85 | 89.0% | 64 min | 1.18% | A |
| SAT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 85 | 78.6% | 41 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 76 | 86.7% | 67 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 74 | 86.3% | 37 min | 1.35% | A |
| SAT to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 60 | 84.7% | 40 min | 1.67% | B |
| SAT to ELP · El Pasothin sample | 59 | 76.3% | 46 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 56 | 89.3% | 52 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 56 | 78.6% | 45 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 52 | 98.1% | 15 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 52 | 84.3% | 55 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 51 | 98.0% | 27 min | 1.96% | A |
| SAT to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 51 | 78.0% | 160 min | 1.96% | B |
| SAT to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample | 30 | 93.3% | 72 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held SAT up in April
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 38,000 reported delay minutes.
- 39%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 23%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
39% 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 38,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 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 38,298 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.74%, below the national 0.90% 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 4.8% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.4% 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 SAT in April
For a April trip through SAT: expect 82.6% on time and 0.74% cancelled, going by April 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- San Antonio International (SAT), the whole year
- SAT in July76.4%
- SAT in August81.5%
- SAT in September85.6%
- SAT in October83.7%
- SAT in November84.1%
- SAT in December83.7%
- SAT in January84.8%
- SAT in February86.3%
- SAT in March79.9%
- SAT in May80.7%
- SAT in June73.5%
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.