Airport month record
SJCJAN
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International in January 2026
- Departures
- 3,099
- Month
- January 2026
- National, same month
- 79.2%
- Carriers
- 7
Historical statistics for January 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s January. For today’s conditions at SJC, see live FAA status.
SJC 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 10 points better than the national rate of 79.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 3,099 flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 1,907 at 89.9% on time.
Set against the rest of the country, SJC's January record is 10 points better than the US average of 79.2%. That gap is worth roughly 101 fewer late arrivals for every thousand flights.
Key figures
On time
89.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,060 completed departures
Avg delay
61 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.19%
Nationally in January: 4.71%
Whole year
82.9%
SJC across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,099 departures from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose 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 SJC's other months
Against SJC's own year, January ran 6 points better than the twelve-month rate of 82.9%, which makes it the best of the twelve months in the data. Cancellations are where January stands out: 1.19% of scheduled departures were called off, 1.7 times the airport's rate across the year. Either side of it, December ran 81.2% on time and February 87.0%, 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 | 4,120 | 80.8% | 60 min | 0.87% | B+ |
| August 2025 | 3,885 | 83.5% | 54 min | 0.36% | B+ |
| September 2025 | 3,777 | 85.5% | 51 min | 0.50% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 3,865 | 81.5% | 52 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,659 | 83.0% | 57 min | 1.12% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,622 | 81.2% | 58 min | 0.86% | B+ |
| January 2026 (this page) | 3,099 | 89.3% | 61 min | 1.19% | A |
| February 2026 | 3,088 | 87.0% | 51 min | 0.58% | A+ |
| March 2026 | 3,438 | 85.6% | 59 min | 0.96% | A+ |
| April 2026 | 3,423 | 84.2% | 45 min | 0.50% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 3,686 | 81.7% | 48 min | 0.38% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 3,816 | 74.3% | 50 min | 0.58% | C+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave SJC in January
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 15 points, against about a point between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am555 flights94.9%
- 8am–11am698 flights94.0%
- 11am–2pm576 flights88.5%
- 2pm–5pm611 flights85.2%
- 5pm–8pm516 flights85.5%
- 8pm–5am143 flights80.3%
Scale runs 70% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.9% of the time, against 80.3% for the overnight window. That is 15 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 698 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 94.3% on time and Thursday the weakest at 85.3%. 9 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SJC in January
The two carriers here are closely matched: about a point separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,907 | 89.9% | 49 min | 0.84% | A+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 489 | 88.7% | 70 min | 0.41% | A+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 238 | 88.1% | 57 min | 0.84% | A+ |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 186 | 93.0% | 62 min | 0.54% | A+ |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 148 | 81.8% | 114 min | 10.81% | B− |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 71 | 93.0% | 102 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 32 | 87.5% | 51 min | 0.00% | A+ |
No carrier stands out. Southwest tops the table at 89.9%, about a point clear of the bottom, which is inside the range this kind of sample moves year to year.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of SJC in January
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SJC to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 332 | 87.9% | 52 min | 0.60% | A+ |
| SJC to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 320 | 92.5% | 78 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 318 | 81.4% | 54 min | 1.57% | B |
| SJC to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 297 | 87.8% | 65 min | 1.01% | A |
| SJC to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 246 | 88.8% | 67 min | 1.63% | A |
| SJC to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 212 | 93.4% | 41 min | 0.47% | A+ |
| SJC to DEN · Denverthin sample | 189 | 93.1% | 56 min | 0.53% | A+ |
| SJC to BUR · Burbankthin sample | 157 | 93.6% | 62 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 127 | 89.0% | 84 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 124 | 96.0% | 51 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to ONT · Ontariothin sample | 101 | 90.1% | 45 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to LGB · Long Beachthin sample | 93 | 94.6% | 33 min | 1.08% | A |
| SJC to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 87 | 77.3% | 100 min | 13.79% | B− |
| SJC to AUS · Austinthin sample | 86 | 83.3% | 47 min | 2.33% | B |
| SJC to HNL · Honoluluthin sample | 65 | 92.3% | 62 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 62 | 90.2% | 67 min | 1.61% | A |
| SJC to BOI · Boisethin sample | 60 | 95.0% | 76 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to OGG · Kahuluithin sample | 38 | 86.8% | 69 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 31 | 89.3% | 38 min | 9.68% | A− |
| SJC to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 31 | 93.5% | 31 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held SJC 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 20,000 reported delay minutes.
- 40%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 7%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
40% 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 20,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 6 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 19,752 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.19% against a national 4.71%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.06%.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 3.2% 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 SJC in January
For a January trip through SJC: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 89.3% on time with 1.19% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.
Related
Where to go next
- Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International (SJC), the whole year
- SJC in July80.8%
- SJC in August83.5%
- SJC in September85.5%
- SJC in October81.5%
- SJC in November83.0%
- SJC in December81.2%
- SJC in February87.0%
- SJC in March85.6%
- SJC in April84.2%
- SJC in May81.7%
- SJC in June74.3%
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.