Airport month record

SJCMAY

Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International in May 2026

Departures: 3,686
Month: May 2026
National, same month: 78.6%
Carriers: 7

Historical statistics for May 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s May. For today’s conditions at SJC, see live FAA status.

SJC in May lands a B+, 3 points better than the national rate of 78.6%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by roughly 50 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 3,686 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 520 at 86.0% on time.

On time

81.7%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,665 completed departures

Avg delay

48 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.38%

Nationally in May: 0.92%

Whole year

82.9%

SJC across all twelve months

These figures cover 3,686 departures from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose 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 SJC's other months

Against SJC's own year, May ran about a point worse than the twelve-month rate of 82.9%, which makes it number eight of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for SJC in May, at 0.38% against 0.69% across the year. Either side of it, April ran 84.2% on time and June 74.3%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

SJC month by month
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	3,438	85.6%	59 min	0.96%	A+
April 2026	3,423	84.2%	45 min	0.50%	B+
May 2026 (this page)	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 May

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 26 points, against 8 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am756 flights95.2%
8am–11am625 flights87.2%
11am–2pm709 flights81.3%
2pm–5pm622 flights72.9%
5pm–8pm559 flights69.7%
8pm–5am415 flights78.7%

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 95.2% of the time, against 69.7% for the evening window. That is 26 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 756 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 92.8% on time and Thursday the weakest at 74.6%. 18 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SJC in May

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 86.0% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 77.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,214 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SJC in May 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	2,214	77.6%	43 min	0.32%	B+
SkyWest Airlines	520	86.0%	57 min	0.00%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	316	93.3%	71 min	0.95%	A+
Alaska Airlinesthin sample	285	86.6%	37 min	0.35%	A+
American Airlinesthin sample	162	86.6%	82 min	1.23%	A
United Airlinesthin sample	148	87.1%	73 min	0.68%	A+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	40	85.0%	74 min	0.00%	A+

SkyWest 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 SJC in May

Routes from SJC in May 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SJC to SAN · San Diego	439	66.1%	41 min	0.23%	C+
SJC to LAX · Los Angeles	382	88.9%	58 min	0.52%	A+
SJC to SEA · Seattlethin sample	356	82.0%	38 min	0.28%	B+
SJC to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	303	80.1%	54 min	0.66%	B+
SJC to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	269	83.2%	61 min	0.37%	B+
SJC to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	241	91.2%	40 min	0.41%	A+
SJC to DEN · Denverthin sample	197	77.6%	49 min	0.51%	B+
SJC to BUR · Burbankthin sample	166	86.6%	43 min	1.20%	A
SJC to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	162	91.4%	109 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to LGB · Long Beachthin sample	118	87.3%	34 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to PDX · Portlandthin sample	116	90.5%	51 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to ONT · Ontariothin sample	110	83.6%	47 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to AUS · Austinthin sample	104	68.0%	47 min	0.00%	C+
SJC to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	93	81.8%	91 min	2.15%	B
SJC to ATL · Atlantathin sample	81	91.2%	33 min	1.23%	A
SJC to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	62	82.3%	67 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to MDW · Chicagothin sample	57	67.9%	39 min	0.00%	C+
SJC to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	50	94.0%	22 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to BOI · Boisethin sample	47	59.6%	39 min	0.00%	D+
SJC to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	41	95.1%	58 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample	37	70.3%	26 min	0.00%	C+
SJC to DAL · Dallasthin sample	31	87.1%	42 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to ORD · Chicagothin sample	31	87.1%	23 min	0.00%	A+
SJC to IAH · Houstonthin sample	31	80.6%	81 min	0.00%	B+
SJC to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	31	83.9%	29 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held SJC up in May

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 47% of the 32,000 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.

Late-arriving aircraft
47%
Carrier
32%
National Airspace System
20%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

47% 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 32,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 40 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 31,933 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.38%, below the national 0.92% 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 3.8% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 7.1% 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 May

For a May trip through SJC: expect 81.7% on time and 0.38% cancelled, going by May 2026. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

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 March85.6%
SJC in April84.2%
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.

Key figures