Airport month record
SATMAR
San Antonio International in March 2026
- Departures
- 3,439
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at SAT, see live FAA status.
SAT in March lands a B, 4 points better than the national rate of 75.7%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,439 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 552 at 87.4% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 87.4% on time across 552 flights.
Key figures
On time
79.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,377 completed departures
Avg delay
74 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.37%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
81.8%
SAT across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,439 departures from San Antonio International in March 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
March next to SAT's other months
Against SAT's own year, March ran 2 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 81.8%, which makes it number ten of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, February ran 86.3% on time and April 82.6%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better 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 (this page) | 3,439 | 79.9% | 74 min | 1.37% | B |
| April 2026 | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,017 flights92.5%
- 8am–11am464 flights84.9%
- 11am–2pm641 flights78.0%
- 2pm–5pm633 flights71.5%
- 5pm–8pm537 flights67.3%
- 8pm–5am147 flights68.1%
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 92.5% of the time, against 67.3% for the evening window. That is 25 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,017 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 84.5% on time and Saturday the weakest at 77.0%. 8 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SAT in March
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 87.4% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 76.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,322 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,322 | 76.9% | 49 min | 0.61% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 601 | 82.5% | 109 min | 1.66% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 552 | 87.4% | 97 min | 1.99% | A |
| United Airlines | 501 | 79.9% | 83 min | 1.20% | B |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 171 | 86.8% | 75 min | 1.75% | A |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 110 | 75.9% | 152 min | 0.91% | B+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 65 | 74.6% | 83 min | 3.08% | C− |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 62 | 68.4% | 58 min | 6.45% | C− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 31 | 54.8% | 45 min | 0.00% | F+ |
Delta leads Southwest by 11 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 March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 364 | 81.6% | 102 min | 1.92% | B |
| SAT to DEN · Denverthin sample | 295 | 79.9% | 93 min | 0.34% | B+ |
| SAT to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 256 | 82.9% | 85 min | 1.17% | B |
| SAT to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 251 | 83.1% | 51 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 236 | 87.7% | 122 min | 0.42% | A+ |
| SAT to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 233 | 80.5% | 107 min | 2.58% | B |
| SAT to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 179 | 65.9% | 63 min | 3.91% | C− |
| SAT to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 165 | 85.4% | 47 min | 0.61% | A+ |
| SAT to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 144 | 93.1% | 54 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 118 | 69.9% | 80 min | 3.39% | C− |
| SAT to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 115 | 82.3% | 76 min | 1.74% | B |
| SAT to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 100 | 56.0% | 54 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| SAT to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 89 | 93.2% | 70 min | 1.12% | A |
| SAT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 82 | 74.1% | 41 min | 1.22% | C |
| SAT to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 62 | 90.2% | 84 min | 1.61% | A |
| SAT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 58 | 82.1% | 102 min | 3.45% | B− |
| SAT to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 58 | 53.6% | 46 min | 3.45% | F− |
| SAT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 57 | 91.1% | 39 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 54 | 77.8% | 62 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 54 | 85.2% | 62 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to ELP · El Pasothin sample | 54 | 86.8% | 47 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 52 | 88.5% | 40 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 51 | 54.0% | 56 min | 1.96% | F |
| SAT to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 34 | 93.9% | 117 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to MSY · New Orleansthin sample | 32 | 68.8% | 44 min | 0.00% | C+ |
Delay causes
What held SAT up in March
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 50,000 reported delay minutes.
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 29%Carrier
- 25%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
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 50,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 12 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 49,695 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.37% against a national 2.90%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.44%.
6.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 9.5%. 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 last a little over an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
What to do with this
Flying from SAT in March
For a March trip through SAT: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 92.5% on time, and with 6.8% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in February would.
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 April82.6%
- 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.