Airport month record
SJCMAR
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International in March 2026
- Departures
- 3,438
- Month
- March 2026
- National, same month
- 75.7%
- Carriers
- 7
Historical statistics for March 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s March. For today’s conditions at SJC, see live FAA status.
SJC in March earns an A+. More than four flights in five 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 75.7%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 3,438 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 474 at 88.6% on time.
Set against the rest of the country, SJC's March record is 10 points better than the US average of 75.7%. That gap is worth roughly 99 fewer late arrivals for every thousand flights.
Key figures
On time
85.6%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,403 completed departures
Avg delay
59 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.96%
Nationally in March: 2.90%
Whole year
82.9%
SJC across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,438 departures from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose 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 SJC's other months
Against SJC's own year, March ran 3 points better than the twelve-month rate of 82.9%, which makes it number three of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, February ran 87.0% on time and April 84.2%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| 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 | 3,099 | 89.3% | 61 min | 1.19% | A |
| February 2026 | 3,088 | 87.0% | 51 min | 0.58% | A+ |
| March 2026 (this page) | 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 March
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 16 points, against 4 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am705 flights94.5%
- 8am–11am596 flights92.2%
- 11am–2pm554 flights83.3%
- 2pm–5pm622 flights81.5%
- 5pm–8pm564 flights79.7%
- 8pm–5am397 flights78.1%
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 94.5% of the time, against 78.1% for the overnight window. That is 16 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 705 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 92.5% on time and Friday the weakest at 77.4%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SJC in March
The two carriers here are closely matched: 4 points 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 | 2,208 | 84.3% | 50 min | 0.72% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 474 | 88.6% | 71 min | 0.42% | A+ |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 270 | 89.3% | 89 min | 3.33% | A− |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 246 | 86.7% | 86 min | 2.03% | A |
| American Airlinesthin sample | 120 | 85.0% | 91 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 88 | 90.9% | 86 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 32 | 83.9% | 62 min | 3.12% | B− |
No carrier stands out. SkyWest tops the table at 88.6%, 4 points 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 March
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SJC to SAN · San Diego | 406 | 77.7% | 53 min | 1.72% | B |
| SJC to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 357 | 88.8% | 55 min | 2.52% | A |
| SJC to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 328 | 86.0% | 75 min | 2.13% | A |
| SJC to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 300 | 82.3% | 61 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SJC to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 296 | 82.4% | 42 min | 0.34% | B+ |
| SJC to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 236 | 91.0% | 68 min | 0.85% | A+ |
| SJC to DEN · Denverthin sample | 172 | 86.0% | 70 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to BUR · Burbankthin sample | 170 | 86.7% | 59 min | 1.76% | A |
| SJC to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 138 | 92.0% | 87 min | 0.72% | A+ |
| SJC to LGB · Long Beachthin sample | 112 | 89.3% | 64 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to ONT · Ontariothin sample | 107 | 87.9% | 42 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to PDX · Portlandthin sample | 105 | 88.6% | 64 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to AUS · Austinthin sample | 98 | 76.5% | 44 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SJC to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 89 | 83.1% | 76 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SJC to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 62 | 85.2% | 134 min | 1.61% | A |
| SJC to HNL · Honoluluthin sample | 62 | 91.9% | 74 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 52 | 88.2% | 33 min | 1.92% | A |
| SJC to BOI · Boisethin sample | 44 | 90.9% | 62 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to OGG · Kahuluithin sample | 32 | 87.1% | 82 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 32 | 90.6% | 21 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample | 31 | 87.1% | 44 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SJC to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 31 | 96.8% | 28 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held SJC up in March
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 49% of the 29,000 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.
- 49%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 15%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
49% 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 29,000 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 28,838 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 0.96% against a national 2.90%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.06%.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.3% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 9.5% 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 March
For a March trip through SJC: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 85.6% on time with 0.96% 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 January89.3%
- SJC in February87.0%
- 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.