Airport month record
SATMAY
San Antonio International in May 2026
- Departures
- 3,485
- Month
- May 2026
- National, same month
- 78.6%
- Carriers
- 8
Historical statistics for May 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s May. For today’s conditions at SAT, see live FAA status.
SAT in May lands a B, 2 points better than the national rate of 78.6%. 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 3,485 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 611 at 86.6% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 86.6% on time across 611 flights.
Key figures
On time
80.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,427 completed departures
Avg delay
79 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.38%
Nationally in May: 0.92%
Whole year
81.8%
SAT across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,485 departures from San Antonio International in May 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
May next to SAT's other months
Against SAT's own year, May ran about a point worse than the twelve-month rate of 81.8%, which makes it number nine of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, April ran 82.6% on time and June 73.5%, 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 | 3,384 | 82.6% | 66 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| May 2026 (this page) | 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 May
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 28 points, against 11 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am991 flights91.6%
- 8am–11am418 flights87.9%
- 11am–2pm682 flights81.1%
- 2pm–5pm657 flights73.0%
- 5pm–8pm598 flights69.3%
- 8pm–5am139 flights63.5%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 63.5% on time, against 91.6% 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 991 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 85.9% on time and Friday the weakest at 77.2%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SAT in May
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 86.6% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 75.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,357 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,357 | 75.9% | 53 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 628 | 82.5% | 142 min | 2.71% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 611 | 86.6% | 74 min | 2.78% | A |
| United Airlines | 461 | 84.9% | 49 min | 0.43% | B+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 166 | 78.4% | 83 min | 2.41% | B |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 148 | 83.6% | 280 min | 1.35% | B |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 61 | 70.5% | 66 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 50 | 92.0% | 43 min | 0.00% | A+ |
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 May
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 390 | 78.0% | 168 min | 5.38% | B− |
| SAT to DEN · Denverthin sample | 266 | 78.8% | 44 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 259 | 80.0% | 75 min | 4.63% | B− |
| SAT to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 252 | 82.4% | 65 min | 1.98% | B |
| SAT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 230 | 82.2% | 65 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 184 | 79.3% | 51 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 179 | 83.5% | 84 min | 1.12% | B |
| SAT to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 175 | 72.4% | 53 min | 0.57% | C+ |
| SAT to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 149 | 80.8% | 103 min | 2.01% | B |
| SAT to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 121 | 86.8% | 104 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 103 | 55.3% | 53 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| SAT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 88 | 71.6% | 53 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| SAT to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 87 | 90.6% | 52 min | 2.30% | A |
| SAT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 87 | 90.8% | 66 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 86 | 91.9% | 81 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 63 | 74.6% | 74 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| SAT to ELP · El Pasothin sample | 62 | 77.4% | 81 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 62 | 79.0% | 44 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 57 | 75.4% | 48 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 56 | 89.1% | 62 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 54 | 96.2% | 23 min | 1.85% | A |
| SAT to MIA · Miamithin sample | 54 | 75.9% | 71 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 52 | 84.6% | 40 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 50 | 92.0% | 43 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 50 | 98.0% | 28 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held SAT up in May
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 52,000 reported delay minutes.
- 35%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 17%Extreme weather
- 16%National Airspace System
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 17% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the comparison with the other months below is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 6%, so this operation carries roughly 2.8 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 52,438 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.38% against a national 0.92%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.29%.
6.1% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 7.1%. 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 May
For a May trip through SAT: expect 80.7% on time and 1.38% cancelled, going by May 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 April82.6%
- 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.